Grown Up, She Just Turned 16
by musicISaNECESSITY
Summary: Yes, the title is the first line of a Boys Like Girls song, I needed a title.  Anyways, Ginny's only 16 living in the middle of a war, but her world is about to change even more when she finds out she's pregnant
1. Chapter 1

**Grown Up, She Just Turned 16**

**Authors Note: I own none of the characters, that is all thank to the lovely J.K. Rowling**

**Chapter 1**

She sat on the floor of the bathroom, her back against the door while staring at the vial in her hands, a green liquid within—the result of a potion gone…well, what is usually good. But for her, horrible. Beyond, horrible.

I brewed it wrong, Ginny thought to herself in a panic. But she knew she was wrong, she was strong in potions to begin with and she took more caution and precision on that specific potion in her hands than on any potion in her entire life, including all of her potion finals.

She stood up, dumping the potion into the sink and ran the water to wash away all traces of her now-living nightmare. Then she walked away, not wanting to glance in the mirror at her sixteen year old self that screwed over her own life, even more than the war already had.

She walked through the corridors, trying to blend in with the other students, but her infamous Weasley red hair was always a dead giveaway. "Weasley!" A cold voice from behind her made her turn around and backtrack to a classroom.

"Hello, Professor Carrow," Ginny couldn't take another yelling, let alone detention with her current state of mind.

"Your essay, Miss Weasley, was pitiful. I want you to re-do it and hand it to me by tomorrow morning before breakfast. I'll let you know by dinner if you should come again for yet another detention," the Dark Arts teacher shoved her carefully thought out essay into Ginny's hands.

"I'm sorry Professor Carrow, I'll improve it," she said, growing tired of retaliating against the Death Eaters and the entire war. Carrow only sneered at her then walked into her classroom, probably to curse a poor 2nd year.

Ginny started to walk through the halls again, heading to her History of Magic class, the only safe class for anyone in the Order, or with Order-like feelings anymore. Right as she was about to turn into the classroom, she saw the familiar white-blond hair that has been tormenting her since before her first year, but has amped up the torture since her 6th year started three months prior.

She went to him quickly, ignoring his usual cronies standing around him, "Malfoy, I need to talk to you. Is after dinner alright? Before curfew of course," she looked up at him, adding in desperate eyes with her begging. She couldn't lower herself any further to him—she was used to his daily comments about her family, the daily leer.

Draco Malfoy moved his steel gray eyes down into her brown ones, "Fine, Weaselette. By the statue of Henrick the Crazy." Then he moved away, quickly followed by Crabbe and Goyle who sneered at her as they walked past.

Her stomach turned and she walked quickly into Professor Binn's classroom, knowing that the rest of the day would be torture to get through.

Ginny left the Great Hall early, not being able to eat from nerves. She walked up to the less populated 3rd floor by the statue of Henrick the Crazy, and sat down by the base waiting for Malfoy to show, praying that he would show.

Malfoy came up with the stairs much after dinner had ended walking in a causal swagger, thankfully alone. She heard the footprints and glanced up as he walked over. "I told you that you'd be begging to have it again, Weaselette."

She ignored his smirk; it would be coming off in a moment anyways. "I might have been begging Malfoy, but it wasn't for a shag." She bore her eyes into his, "Happy Father's Day, I'm pregnant."


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: I own none of the characters, that is all thank to the lovely J.K. Rowling**

**Chapter 2**

I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant… The words were on repeat in Draco Malfoy's head as he stared at the suddenly small and vulnerable red head sitting in front of him. His façade of being the tough guy at Hogwarts was gone for a moment. "How do you know it's mine?" His smirk was back after his lapse, but the words were still penetrating in his mind.

Ginny Weasley narrowed her eyes into his, "I lost my virginity to you a week ago. Do you really think that any girl, regardless of blood status would be that much of a whore? If you really doubt me, then we'll have a paternity test, but you're sadly now going to be a father."

"Then just get rid of it," he said it so nonchalantly he even shocked himself; but even saying it, he knew he wouldn't actually let her do it.

"I can't, it's technically a pure blood. If You-Know-Who found out, I'm positive it wouldn't be pretty, correct?"

Draco swore under his breath, of course she was right. "Alright, then just give it up for adoption," he shrugged. But he was watching her reactions, she wasn't crying, but she looked miserable. Then again, since she came to Hogwarts, she always looked miserable. Then again, he wasn't having the time of his life either.

Ginny slowly shook her head, "I can't do that. I'm not going to put my child in the hands of some horrible, murderous Death Eater. I'll just…raise it on my own, go back to my family."

Draco smirked, shaking his blond head at her naivety, "You won't be allowed to go back to your blood traitor family. Neither Carrow, Dark Lord, Snape, or my father will allow my child to be raised by your family." Merlin, he just called it his child. "Even if it is a bastard." There, much better, now end it with a signature smirk.

Ginny ignored his smirk, "So, you are taking responsibility that it's your child?" Her voice was tense, desperate almost.

"Unfortunately. At least it's a pure blood."

"Yeah, lucky me and baby…" She placed a hand on her stomach, staring down at the ground. She suddenly stood up and standing in front of him, "DAMNIT MALFOY! You couldn't have used a bloody protection spell? You couldn't have pulled out in time? I'm 16! I'm already dealing with enough!" Draco took a reflex step back, noticing the tears brimming in her eyes.

"If you keep yelling, you'll attract a professor's attention and you'll receive yet another detention, Weasley. I don't believe you getting a Cruciatus Curse will be good for my child. I'm sorry, I should have used a protection spell, but you could have too." He took a step towards her this time, staring her down, "And in case you haven't noticed, we're all dealing with enough right now. Now, go to your House. I'll talk to you about this later. And for Merlin's sake, don't you dare tell anyone." And with that, Draco walked past her, heading down the stairs. Well, this sure ruined his night of sex he had planned with Pansy.

He let out a groan. He had two choices from the way he saw it, he could let her suffer with the bastard child alone and avoid telling his father, or he could talk to his father, who would talk to the Dark Lord. He wanted to do the former, just brush off the problem at hand. He knew that if he threatened the Weasel's little sister enough, she wouldn't mention a word of his child, she didn't look thrilled it was his to begin with. At the same time, he knew he couldn't cower away from his problems like last time. I may not be a Gryffindor, he thought, but I'm not going to be a damned Hufflepuff either.

"I need a firewhiskey," he muttered under his breath as he tripped some 3rd year for running in the corridor, serves him right.

Ginny watched Draco walk away, taking steady, deep breaths to calm herself. She waited a few moments before quietly walking to the Gryffindor common room, avoiding all of the prefects and professors.

_It was close to midnight when Ginny had snuck out of the Gryffindor tower, with a load of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products in her hands—gifts donated by her brothers to use sparingly. Tonight she was planning on setting up carefully timed fireworks outside of the Carrow siblings' classrooms, starting with the potions dungeon._

"_A Weasel out of bed, what are we going to do about that?" Ginny jumped at the voice behind her, but noticed the voice wasn't as harsh, it was more suave. She turned around and swore. She should have remembered that Draco Malfoy's primary guarding territory would be by the dungeons were his house was. Merlin forbid he walks to other parts of the castle for his Head Boy duties._

"_Hello Malfoy," she threw him off with a smile and set the timer on the fireworks that were now successfully lodged and stuck right above the door; immoveable and impenetrable until they were done going off the next day._

"_Out of your dormitory after curfew, and usage of the banned Weasley's products, I see. I think that's good for 2 detentions Weaselette." _

_Ginny rolled her eyes, "You've been calling me Weaselette for the past, what? 6 years? You can't come up with a better name for me, ferret? And don't go for 'blood-traitor' either, that was overdone before I was born."_

_He stared at her, looking like he was a bit too tired to think of his usual mediocre comeback, so he used his signature sneer, "I'll call you whatever I feel like, Weasley."_

_Ginny smiled sweetly, "Alright, Draco." She hid her grin at his shock of someone actually using his first name, even Headmaster Snape still called him Mr. Malfoy—and they were Death Eaters together. She gathered the rest of the fireworks and began to walk away. He must have gotten over the initial shock because he tripped her and she fell ungracefully, landing face first. As Ginny got up, Malfoy was standing in front of her. _

"_Your Weasley products, Weasley," Draco grabbed the bag from her, his hand smoothly brushing her breast before ripping it from her hands. Ginny rose her eyebrows at him, as he took a step closer, looking down at her with a smirk before planting his lips on hers._

_It took Ginny a second to realize what was going on, as it was apparently now his turn to surprise her. But once she closed her eyes and focused on kissing him back, the world began to drown out. Not because she was kissing Malfoy, but because kissing someone with their arms around her made her feel safe again. His soft lips reminded her of Harry's; and as she ran her fingers through Malfoy's blond locks, she could almost imagine that it was Harry's raven black, unruly mess of hair in between her fingers. _

_He began to pull away, and Ginny could feel the safeness disappear from her again, the horrors of the war replaying in her head. No, she needed to keep that safe feeling. "Let's go to the Room of Requirement," she heard herself say, watching Draco's face slowly break out into something between a smirk and a smile as he led her up to the 7__th__ floor with ease._

_Twenty minutes later, Ginny and Malfoy were on a bed, losing clothes quickly. She didn't let out a scream when he broke her hymen, but her gasp at the pain that flooded into her lower body as he entered let him know he just took another girl's virginity, something he was used to by now. But even in spite of the pain (although nothing compared to the Cruciatus Curse) she was feeling safe. And imagining that it was Harry pressed against her, who she was holding onto, just made her feel better._

_He rolled off of her with a smirk a half hour later, "Not bad, Weasley. Let me know if you want to do that again."_

_Ginny shrugged, "Doubt it," she found her bra and put that and her shirt back on, but by that time he was already dressed and heading out of the door._

_She finished putting on the rest of her clothes quickly and headed back to the Gryffindor common room, tired, sore, and suddenly extremely lonely—worse than before. It wasn't until the explosions coming from the dungeons the following day at 1 o'clock sharp that it set in that she realized exactly what she did the night before._

Ginny reached the Fat Lady's portrait, suddenly aware that her face was wet. She must have been crying the entire way back. "Password, dear," the portrait said kindly, aware that she was interrupting a moment within Ginny's own mind.

"Salazar Slytherin," she muttered, hating the password the Headmaster had come up with for her house. The portrait swung open and she took a moment to wipe away her tears before walking into the common room.

**This is my first story that I've ever posted online. I like constructive criticism and reviews. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: I own none of the characters, that is all thanks to the lovely J.K. Rowling**

**Chapter 3**

He had been postponing it for several weeks now, much to her obvious disdain. He was growing tired of her always glancing at him, seeing if he was going to say anything to her about the...thing. He could tell her mind had been running through all of the possibilities of why he hadn't said anything to her since the night she told him, settling on the most rational reason—he wasn't actually going to do anything and he was going to leave her to deal with it on her own. He couldn't even blame her for thinking that, considering he did.

Now, however, he was standing in front of Headmaster Snape's large wooden doors, bidding his time before confronting his father, who was no doubt arriving to yell at him. His hand rubbed his temples for a moment and he sighed before knocking on the oversized door. "Come in," he heard from the inside, and he entered.

His father turned around, narrowing his eyes at him, "Draco."

"Hello, Father," he kept his tone even; he had given up his cocky voice with his father after his 5th year ended. He came further into the room, "Thank you for coming."

"I believe you owe me some explanations, Draco. Who exactly did you get pregnant?"

Draco had conveniently left out the actual mother of his soon-to-be child, not wanting a howler. "I had a one-stand about a month ago with Ginny Weasley; and yes, it is my child, regretfully." He saw Snape's eyes close, and his father's nostrils were flaring.

"You lowered yourself to _her_ for what reason? She's a damn blood-traitor, Draco! She's almost as dirty as a mud-blood!"

"It was her idea. I'm not going to turn down a girl offering sex to me."

Draco watched his father pace back and forth, "I'm just going to assume you know your second mistake, other than giving into your childish hormones, was not using a protection spell." Draco nodded, waiting for his father to continue, "And how many people know?"

"Just us and her, she's too nervous to tell anyone else."

His father sighed, "I'm extremely disappointed in you, Draco."

Draco's stomach turned at the unpleasant word and he looked down as his father glanced at Snape for some sort of input. "The child would be a pure blood, Lucius. Regardless of the mother's blood status, it's still a pure blood. And the wizarding world is growing low on pure bloods, especially from two extremely pure families like the Weasley and Malfoys."

"And yet, the child cannot be raised by her family."

"Understandably."

"And I don't want the child at my house."

Snape sighed, "Lucius, I believe you're conveniently forgetting wizard law."

"I'm not forgetting it; I'm choosing not to follow it. So many others don't follow it anyways that no one would know."

Draco watched the two men go back and forth, "Pardon me? But this is my child we're talking about; I believe I should be involved in this conversation."

"_We _are cleaning up the disaster you caused," Lucius responded back, turning to look at him. "Your poor mother is a wreck."

"What's the wizard law?" Draco pressed on.

"Tell him, he should have known earlier," Snape said, responding to Lucius' hesitation.

"Wizard law is more of a tradition that in recent generations has gone completely unnoticed. If an unmarried man gets a woman pregnant, than by the tradition, he is to marry her, as she is carrying his heir. However, the same wizard law is the cause of pure bloods marrying mud bloods in the past. We never told you this because we figured if you were to get anyone pregnant it would be Pansy, a pure blood."

"Like Miss Weasley," Snape added in.

Draco's father turned to glare at Snape, and then looked back at Draco, "Your mother and I will deal with you later. Stop acting on your hormones and remain silent about this. You may go."

Draco nodded, "Goodbye father, Headmaster." He turned and left, his stomach still turning. He was never going to be good enough for his father; he might as well start getting used to that fact.

XX

Severus Snape had waited until Draco was down the stairs, "She's still a pureblood, Lucius. And the Dark Lord will hear about her pregnancy, and he'll want to know who the father is and he will find out eventually. He'll be angrier finding out after it happened."

"Yes, yes, I know, but the mother is a blood traitor, who, if you recall, was there the night at the ministry that put me in Azkaban and who was last rumored to be dating—" Lucius' face broke out in a broad smirk, "—Harry Potter."

XX

Ginny let go of the porcelain toilet bowl, leaning back against the stall door and closing her eyes. She heard the bathroom door open, "Ginny?" She heard Luna Lovegood's dreamy voice call, "I saw you run in here, are you alright?"

Ginny flushed the remnants of her breakfast and stood up quickly, exiting the stall. "Morning, Luna. I'm fine, my eggs were just a little under cooked for my stomach," she smiled a bit, hoping that there were actually eggs that morning. She couldn't remember—she didn't last long before her morning sickness kicked in.

"It might have been szuies, little green creatures that make people throw up by crawling into their food," Luna smiled dreamily. "They're rather hard to get rid of though, I'm sorry I can't help more."

"Thanks, Luna. But I doubt you can help me with this," Ginny responded, feeling her gag reflex warn her she wasn't done yet. She ran back into the stall just in time to finish her morning sickness of that day. Once she was done, she leaned her head against the wall.

"Maybe you should go to Madame Pomfrey," Luna suggested from behind her, starting to grow more concerned at the second round of 'szuies'.

Ginny shook her head slowly, "No, I'm fine." She stood up, "It's gone now." She gave Luna a weak smile, something to barely hide the tears that were brimming in her eyes. If there was anything she needed right now, it was a girl to talk to. Maybe she wasn't quite in the stage of pregnancy where she was gathering baby clothes and debating between names, but right now she needed some form of support. And Malfoy was denying her that. This is what it must have been like for Harry his 5th year, she thought to herself. She stood up, "I'll see you later, Luna. I have to get to class," she faked a smile and headed out of the loo.

She would have gone to find Malfoy, confront him about what he was actually doing to help with her pregnancy. She would have sent her special Bat-Boogy Hex at him. She would have ignored his threat not to tell anyone, and have already confessed what was going on to Luna and her mum.

But in truth, she was scared. She didn't want to jeopardize her family—and with her large family, you had to step carefully where you treaded. The more there were, the larger the chance that one of them wouldn't make it. She shook her head at her own thoughts; no, everyone would make it through the war. She wouldn't allow herself to have negative thoughts such as that.

More importantly, she didn't want to endanger the life of her baby. Even though she was only about 6 weeks pregnant, she already loved her baby. Regardless of whom the father was. It was the only one she had at this point. So until Malfoy stopped being a self-centered arsehole git, she was going to play by his rules.

**Along with long walks on the beach and getting caught in the rain, I enjoy reviews! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note: I own none of the characters, that is all thanks to the lovely J.K. Rowling**

**Chapter 4**

As Ginny exited from the girl's lavatory, she found herself heading outside under the stone walkway to glance out of the snow covered landscape instead of going to her first period of History of Magic. Professor Binns wouldn't notice, nor would he care—nearly everyone skipped his class at least once while at Hogwarts anyways. The cold December air hit her face, there was just two weeks left until the Christmas holiday, and then she would be home with her family. Not like it would be the same with Percy, Ron, Harry, and Hermione gone. Regardless if she got 'approval' from Malfoy, she would be telling her mum about her future grandchild before the holiday ended.

"Weasley!" A voice behind her barked. She jumped and turned around to look at Professor Carrow, "The Headmaster wants you in his office, now!" His beady black eyes seemed to search her for any illegal Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products she could have possibly hidden within her winter robes.

Ginny nodded, "Thank you, sir," she kept her voice neutral; although 6 weeks ago her response would have been overly sarcastic. She slipped past him, relieved he was too focused looking for her brother's products than realizing she was skipping class, and headed off back into the castle, leaving Carrow's beady eyes for Snape's eyes that betrayed the entire Order and killed Dumbledore. Not much of a trade off though.

She climbed up the stairs to the Headmaster's study, knocking on the door, suddenly wondering if this was about her civil disobedience or if he had somehow found out about her pregnancy. She had been too focused on her hatred of Snape to think about that. Although it was too late to prepare as the door opened to reveal Lucius Malfoy's long blond hair, tied in a ponytail that was held together with a black ribbon. She held her head higher and walked in, "You wanted to see me," she left out the 'Headmaster' part. She wasn't completely done rebelling after all.

Snape's eyes looked her over from behind Dumbledore's large desk, "Mr. Malfoy wished to talk to you, Miss Weasley," he nodded over to the smirking Lucius who had turned to look at her.

Ginny turned to him, her eyes narrowing at him, "What do you want?"

"I see that they left out teaching manners in the Weasley household. Something you'll have to work on quickly. To get to the point, I understand that my son lowered himself to sleeping with you and in turn you are pregnant with his child," his disgusted tone caused Ginny to smirk a bit to herself.

"You are correct," she said clearly as she held her gaze against him.

"Well we'll still have to confirm that with a paternity test later. However, we will assume that you are telling the truth, which means that you are carrying a pure blood. A Malfoy pure blood."

"Don't remind me," she muttered.

Lucius' gray eyes pierced into hers, "Regardless of your private feelings, this means that with the Christmas holiday approaching, you will be spending it with us at our manor," his upper lip curled in disgust and Ginny's eyes widened.

"No. I refuse. I'm spending my holiday with my family."

"Unfortunately, Miss Weasley," Snape began from behind the desk, "The Headmaster is the one that approves all of requests to go away for holidays this year; and even if you weren't with child, you wouldn't have been allowed to return to your family for the holiday. We wouldn't want you to catch your brother's spattergroit," he sneered at her brother's 'disease' to explain why he wasn't at Hogwarts this year, "or bring back anymore of your twin brother's banned products."

"Fine, then I'll stay here at Hogwarts," she glared between Snape and the older Malfoy.

"You will be staying with the Malfoy's, Miss Weasley," Snape responded back with a tone of finality, looking like he was starting to get bored with this conversation.

Even Ginny knew when she wouldn't get her way, "Fine. But I'm telling my family about what's going on," her tone barely remained even, but she kept her eye contact with the blond devil. Inside she was panicking; she needed to tell her parents, or at least her mum. She needed them to tell her it was going to be alright. At the very least, she needed to find out from her how long the morning sickness went on for.

"Your family will know, but not quite yet. Returning to the more important matter at hand, you will arrive here the day everyone leaves for holiday at 10 A.M sharp. If someone questions why you are going here instead of the on the train, you will tell them that your parents can't pick you up by train. And remain silent of your…condition," his voice was low and, she would admit, slightly menacing.

"May I go now? I have History of Magic," she turned around and left without waiting for a reply or confirming that she would be in the Headmaster's office at 10, barely making it out of the room before 6 weeks' worth of tears began to escape.

Soon she was running down the corridors, blindly moving past statues and portraits. It took her several moments to realize that she was ankle-deep in snow before she retreated back to the steps of the castle that led out onto the grounds and sat down, wrapping her arms around her sides for something to hold onto as the sobs began to wreck her body.

She felt someone sit down next to her and put their arms around her. She let go of her sides, turning to bury her face in their shoulder and clutch onto them. "Shhh, it's alright. This will all be over soon," Neville's voice said gently as he rubbed her back.

Ginny shook her head, her sobs quieting down after awhile, "No…it'll never be over. Not for me."

"Am I interrupting your little love fest?" She felt Neville turn around to look at Malfoy and moved away from him, putting her face in her hands, she couldn't handle another meeting with a member of the Malfoy family today. She was fairly sure that stress wasn't good for the baby. And her stress levels were through the Gryffindor tower's roof right now.

"I'm helping out a friend right now, Malfoy," Neville responded back with confidence that it made Ginny smile a bit; he had come such a long way.

"You know the rule, no private meetings. Go back to class, Longbottom."

Ginny nodded, "Go back to class Neville, I don't want to get you in trouble," she turned and gave him a small smile, "I'll see you at dinner."

Neville sighed and rose from the step, "Alright," he said, sounding unsure before Ginny heard him walk away, but she didn't hear Malfoy's footsteps following him.

"Did you tell him?" Of course, he was still right behind her.

Ginny gave a small laugh, "Malfoy, if I would have told him, you would be on the ground clutching onto what was left of your balls, probably bruised as well. He's recruited himself to watch over me while Ron is…sick. And trust me, if Ron weren't dying up in his room right now, you'd already be beaten into a pulp, never to be sexually active again."

"Since when has Longbottom had a pair?" She could hear the smirk in his voice.

"You'd be surprised. He's beginning to live up to the pressure of being in Gryffindor and being the closest to Harry." She wiped away some tearstains and the little tears that were still free falling and stood up, turning around to face him.

XX

Draco watched her stand up; he could tell that she had been crying—her eyes were redder than her hair, if that was strangely possible. And he wondered if he were somehow responsible for her crying, or at least partially responsible.

He looked at her unsure, "I didn't think that it was possible for something to be redder than your hair, Weasley, but I think your eyes have beat it out." He meant it to be a joke to make her look a bit…happier, but it had been a long time since he had said something funny.

The girl Weasel glared her red eyes at him, "You are an insufferable arsehole! I'd rather you kill me now than have to spend an entire holiday with you!" She started to walk past him, but he grabbed hold of her arm, "Let go of me Malfoy."

He kept his grip on her, "First off, no one is going to kill you, because then we'd kill a pure blood and a possible heir. Secondly, what are you talking about, having to spend a holiday with me?"

He watched her smirk, "Oh, your father didn't tell you? I'm spending Christmas with the _lovely_," he could just feel the sarcasm radiate through her cloak, "Malfoy family. Happy. Fucking. Christmas." She ripped her arm away from him and went back into the castle.

He turned and watched her walk away, wondering exactly why she had been crying and what is father was getting at by inviting her to stay with them for Christmas. More importantly, he wondered if she knew that the Dark Lord would be at their manor at some point of the holiday, and would soon be informed of her pregnancy.

**Thanks for reading! And please, don't be afraid to give me constructive criticism**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I own none of the characters! **

**Chapter 5**

Two weeks later, Ginny walked casually through the corridors of Hogwarts. Things hadn't gotten any better—her morning sickness still occurred every day without fail, she still hadn't told anyone about her pregnancy despite being about 2 months pregnant, Malfoy was still being useless, she still kept failing at papers and having to redo them, and now she was having almost nightly nightmares. The worst ones got to the point where Neville would have to come in and wake her up, rubbing her back until she stopped crying and went back to sleep. Not only that, but she had a nagging feeling that the Death Eaters were halting any contact between her and anyone in her family. Even though he didn't know the details, he was still more helpful than the only one who did. The only good thing that had been happening was that she was no longer getting detentions.

She finally made it to the stone gargoyle that let her pass and went up to the Headmaster's study, "Alright, I'm here." She glanced up at the clock, 10:17 A.M. She smirked at the blond haired boy.

Malfoy glanced at her, "You're late."

"And you are holding us up by reprimanding me."

He rolled his eyes and took her by her arm, using his other hand to grab a fistful of Floo Powder, "Malfoy Manor."

Her hand tightened on her bag as the fire and smoke whisked the pair of them away. When they reached the foyer of the manor, she pulled her arm away from his grip, "Stop touching me."

She watched him smirk, "Funny, you didn't say that the night we slept together."

She turned pink and stepped from the fireplace into what must have been their foyer. It automatically depressed her, the gray marble floors and stone pillars, the stiff black furniture, tightly drawn curtains. No colors, no sunlight, no happiness. No wonder the Malfoy family was unpleasant. But unpleasant as they were their foyer alone could have fit each room of the Burrow in it.

"Come on, I'll take you to your room," Malfoy began to walk up one of the two gray marble staircases that led down to the foyer. Ginny quietly followed him up the stairs and to the right, counting 3 doors before he stopped. "Here," he turned the handle to the door on the left side of the hall and let the door swing open for her, "If you need anything call Mipsy." He turned on his heel and walked down the hallway to what must have been his own room.

She nodded to his retreating back and walked in her room, surprised by the brighter colors. The walls were painted a medium green color, not that she was surprised. At least it wasn't the Slytherin emerald color. There was a similar four poster bed to hers at Hogwarts, with a gold comforter. Upon closer look, she discovered that there was actual gold thread included in the handiwork. A full length mirror and large dresser and drawers were arranged for her and there was a gold colored chair sitting by the window so she could look out. She put her bag on the bed, whoever arranged it did a careful job for her.

She ventured over to a door next to the dresser and opened it, a large closet filled with gowns and dresses, she rolled her eyes. As if they expected her to attend a ball. She closed it and went down to the other door, her own loo. The first and last time she didn't have to share her own loo was when Ron was a 1st year. That would be good to know for when she had her daily bout of morning sickness the next morning. She went across the room, opening the door parallel to the loo.

She walked into a pastel yellow-colored room; a crib was in the center with a rocking-chair also looking out the window. Against one wall was a changing table and there were already a stack of baby stories and stuffed animals. They made her a baby room. A baby room at Malfoy Manor that was larger than her room at the Burrow. She took a deep breath; surely they didn't expect her to raise the baby here? Once she was allowed to tell her parents they would be gathering her old baby furniture and setting up in her own room.

There was another door across the way, what? Did they give the baby a bathroom too? She opened it, revealing a shirtless Malfoy. She looked at him, and then her eyes traveled down to his smooth, muscular chest. She quickly looked back up at him to meet his smirking face, "Why is there a baby room?" She asked quickly before he could make any snide remarks, which she could tell that he was preparing to do so.

"For the baby…" he spoke slowly, like she was a 2 year old.

She rolled her eyes, "No shit. Why is there a baby room here, at Malfoy Manor?"

"Because this is where the baby will live. You think anyone here would allow a Malfoy pureblood to be raised by blood-traitors?"

She swallowed, "But…what about me?"

"You'll be the exception. Now do you mind, I'm changing for lunch," he held up a dress shirt.

"Oh, sorry," she muttered, turning pink again and shutting the door.

"Wear one of the dresses my mother got you! Lunch is at 12 o'clock sharp!" He called from his room.

Ginny walked back into her room, like hell would she be going to lunch with the Malfoy family, particularly one where she had to put on a dress. She put away her clothes in the drawers, might as well get some-what situated since she would be here for the next two weeks. After looking around her entire room and private loo, she laid down on her bed. She curled up into a small ball, putting a hand on her still slim stomach. She closed her eyes, a few tears slipping out and willed herself into sleep.

XX

Draco walked down one of the staircases, making a few turns until he ended up in the dining room, preciously at noon as the clock rang out. He sat down on his father's left, across from his mother. "Hello Mother, Father. How are you today?" He reached across and grabbed a piece of bread and began to butter it, a little surprised that there was no one else joining them for lunch—as the headquarters for the Dark Lord, people were always coming in and out of the manor. Wait, wasn't Weasley supposed to be joining them?

His father nodded in answer, "Dimpy told me that you were late arriving."

"Yes, she came late to Snape's office. On purpose I believe."

"Is she coming down late on purpose now?" Draco's father glanced at the clock, "It is 12:04 now."

"She might have gotten lost, dear. I doubt Draco showed her where the dining room was," Draco's mother sent him a disapproving look from across the table.

"Dimpy!" His father commanded, and immediately a house elf dressed in a pillowcase dress appeared, "Go direct Ginerva Weasley to lunch."

The house elf nodded and disapparated, appearing a few moments later. "Sir, Miss Weasley is sleeping."

"Well go wake her up and bring her down!"

The house elf disapparated again, then came back a few minutes later. "Sir, she refuses to come down."

Draco watched as his father's face twisted in fury, and he smirked to himself. Not many people would say 'no' to his father. Either she was naïve and stupid, or a true Gryffindor. "Let her be, she'll have to come down for dinner. She'll be hungry by then," Draco spoke, shrugging, delicately eating some of his soup.

"She's expecting! You can't just let her go hungry like that, Draco," his mother scolded, giving him another disapproving look.

His father looked at the house elf, "You better make sure that she comes down for lunch. And if she starts complaining about not being dressed, tell her it won't matter for today. Now!" The house elf disapparated yet again and the Malfoy family kept eating.

Ten minutes later, the red head appeared in the dining room, surveying the chairs. Probably to see which is the furthest away from all of us, Draco mused to himself. "Sit next to Draco, dear," his mother finally said. She slowly slid next to him, moving her seat to grant even more space between them though.

"How nice of you to finally join us," his father spoke, always sarcastic.

"You told me that I was coming here for the holiday, you didn't specify that I was required to eat meals with your family or dress a certain way," she began her soup, not looking at any of them.

"Well, you are," Lucius said, exchanging a look with his wife.

"Ginerva," his mother began gently, "we have asked you to stay with us here for the holiday for an important reason. Due to your…condition, and the Malfoy's being a prominent family, you do expect that we have to do some damage control."

"Why don't you just let me be then? I'll get someone to cover for your son and pretend to be the father and no one would have to know. Quite simple really, so simple I'll be back with my own family by nightfall," although Draco wasn't looking at her, he could hear the bitterness in her voice.

He watched his mother look at his father again to exchange another look, "We'll make an agreement then. You are about 2 months along now? We'll do a gender test after lunch. If it is a girl, then you can get your way. If it is a boy, we get our way."

He glanced over and saw her nod slowly, "Alright."

The rest of the lunch passed in an awkward silence, just the clinking of the silverware against the china bowls. She finally stood up, "Let's get this over with so I can get home." Draco was sure that she wasn't the only one in the room praying for a girl.

His mother stood up and went over to her, pulling out her wand and saying some spell over her stomach. A few seconds later, a purple glow came from her stomach, and his mother said the spell again, receiving the same purple glow as before. Weasley sat down, her eyes closed shut, and his mother and father sat speechless.

"What am I missing?" He finally asked, tired of the silence. He glanced at the girl to his left.

"It's a girl," Weasley began, pausing briefly, "and a boy." She opened her eyes and stood up, leaving the room quickly. Draco turned and watched her leave, her red head ducking down.

"And she calls herself a Gryffindor. If she were really brave she wouldn't keep avoiding our family and running out." Draco turned back around and watched his father smirk, knowing that everything his father just said had no truth in it at all.

**If you have any suggestions, comments, constructive criticism, please let me know! Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I don't own any of the characters**

**Chapter 6**

After several hours of constant persuasion from various house elves, Malfoy pounding on her door, and Mrs. Malfoy talking calmly through her door, Ginny descended down the stairs in the plainest dress in her closet and headed to the dining room for the family dinner. She sat down next to Malfoy without saying a word or looking at the rest of the family.

"How nice of you to join us," came Mr. Malfoy's snide remark as she slid in her seat, probably late. Ginny just started to cut her chicken, slightly offended that they gave her the largest piece. Just because she was carrying two didn't mean she was going to eat an entire chicken.

"So, as we were trying to tell you earlier at lunch about how we are going to handle this matter before we found out you're expecting twins," Mrs. Malfoy began, causing Ginny to turn and look at her, "By the way, did you see the second crib we put in the baby's room?" Mrs. Malfoy was smiling; she was probably the most excited of all of them. She noticed her husband's look to get on with it, "As I was saying, we've been trying to figure out what was best for the babies, and all persons involved and—"

"By that you mean your family. What is best for _your_ family," Ginny interrupted, "I don't need you three, who don't know me or my family at all, to tell me what is best for my child. My family knows exactly how to raise children. Children who don't discriminate based on family blood," she glared at Mr. Malfoy.

"Ginerva, this is what will be best for your family as well. This will give them more protection than they have now, since you seem so concerned about them," Mrs. Malfoy said gently, trying to break the tension that was emitting from both Ginny and the older Malfoy.

"You and Draco will be married," Mr. Malfoy intervened with a tone of finality, tired of his wife holding off the news. Ginny's eyebrows rose and her mouth opened to interrupt again, but he made eye contact with her, "Before you return for Hogwarts."

"But, why? Your son and I hate each other. You and I hate each other. Your family and my family hate each other. Why complicate things? Let me go now and still, no one has to know," Ginny could hear her voice getting desperate. She glanced to her right at her new fiancé. He didn't look as shocked as she did; she must have been the only one underestimating what the Malfoy's would do.

"You are carrying a Malfoy heir, unfortunately. In order for the child to be legitimate, you and my son need to be married. And the Malfoy family doesn't have illegitimate members, and we pride ourselves on being a proper wizarding family that follows the wizard law. Are you familiar with that law?" Mr. Malfoy looked at her like her family didn't even know what laws were.

"That if you get a witch pregnant, you marry her," Ginny responded quietly. If one of her brother's were to have gotten someone pregnant, her father would have invoked wizard law as well. "However, as chivalrous you are, I know that your motives are also strongly political."

"They benefit you as well. By marrying a pure blood, your own blood traitor status will be forgiven," Lucius countered.

"How generous of you," Ginny said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes, going back to eating her food and not looking at any of the Malfoy family. She ate her food quickly and looked up at Mrs. Malfoy since she had so far been the kindest, "May I be excused?"

Mrs. Malfoy sighed, "Yes, but tomorrow you and I will begin going over the wedding details. I've already begun some due to our time constraints."

Ginny just nodded and got up, walking away quickly. This was all too much to handle in one day: not being home for the holidays, finding out she was having twins, finding out she was being forced into a marriage.

"Perhaps while you're going over the wedding details, you can teach her some manners," Lucius observed dryly as she left.

Once Ginny got back to her room, she grabbed some parchment and a quill and wrote quickly:

_Mum and Dad, _

_I'm so sorry; I'm pregnant, with twins. Please, don't be angry, this is hard enough. It's Draco Malfoy's. They invoked wizard law. I'm sorry. Please don't worry, I'll be fine._

_Love, _

_Ginny_

A few tears escaped as she wrote it, splattering on the page. She didn't care what they had in store for her anymore, she was telling her parents. She wanted them to hear the news from her. "Mipsy?" She called hesitantly, once she wiped away her tears.

The house elf appeared, "Yes, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny gave a wry smile, if only Hermione could see this scene, she would be livid, "Can you take me to the owlery, please?"

Mipsy nodded, leading her up to the second floor to the far right and climbing up some stairs until they were in the owlery, "Here you are Miss Weasley. Do you need anything else Miss Weasley?"

"Which owl is Draco's?" Ginny asked, looking around at all of the different colored owls.

"The black one there, Miss Weasley," the house elf pointed to a handsome black owl.

"Thank you," Ginny said, as Mipsy disappeared with a crack.

Ginny went over to the owl, giving him her letter and sending him off to the Burrow. She leaned against the window, looking out and watching the owl fade off into the night before heading back down to her room. She looked around the room, trying to find something to occupy herself from her thoughts.

There was nothing to do, nothing to clean, nothing to read, no extra homework—nothing to do but think. She rubbed her temples and laid down on her bed, crawling under the silk sheets and staring up at the golden canopy above it.

There was no way around this for her. She was trapped within marble and silk. She was slowly losing her fight.

XX

Draco woke up to screams coming from Weasley's room; he glanced over at a clock, 1:42 A.M. He groaned, putting an extra pillow over his head to try and block out her screams. Wait, why was she screaming anyways? He got out of his bed and walked through the adjoining baby room to her room, where she had so kindly left the connecting door open—no wonder he could hear her screams. "Weasley?" His eyes were beginning to get adjusted to the darkness and he could see her tossing and turning on her bed. He moved closer, "Weasley." Still nothing.

He touched her shoulder carefully, "Ginny, wake up. You're having a nightmare."

She jerked awake, "Neville, I need to tell—" She looked up at him, and he could see that her face was wet from her tears. She moved away from his hand on her shoulder, "What are you doing here Malfoy?"

"You were screaming from your nightmare and woke me up. I couldn't get back to sleep with all the noise so I came to wake you up," he shrugged, sitting down on her bed and looking at her. "What was your nightmare?"

She stared at him, "Why should I tell you?"

Not a bad question, he thought, "Because we're engaged now, and we'll have to interact more. So we might as well start getting used to it."

She laid back down on her side, facing away from him, "Then you better start getting used to me screaming, I have nightmares nearly every night."

"Well maybe if you tell me them I can make them stop."

"You're the partial cause of them," she said quietly, still not looking at him.

Draco sighed, "Nothing is going to happen to you or the children, not if we get married at least."

"There's more to it than that," she sighed, "I had everything figured out before this war started. I was going to finish Hogwarts. Then while Harry was training to be an auror, I would play for the Holyhead Harpies. We'd get married after awhile and have three children. My life was figured out, now it's just ruined. I'm supposed to be getting married to someone who loves me at the least." Draco could hear the sadness in her voice, but full sympathy was hard to come by when her happiness involved the Wonder-Boy Harry Potter.

"Why do you like him?" It was a genuine question, not just for her, but for everyone who adored the living legend. What made the boy so bloody perfect?

She was silent for a few moments, "I don't know. He's Harry. I had a huge crush on him when I was 10. And then he finally really noticed me last year."

"Have you ever thought that this is all just the remnants of your 10 year old crush?"

She turned over and faced him, "Are you trying to bring Harry and I apart even more than we already are? Why did you sleep with me to begin with? As a form of revenge against Harry?"

He stared at her for a few moments, and then looked away. "No, actually—that wasn't the reason, a benefit; but not the reason."

"Then what was the reason?" She pressed.

"Why did you offer to sleep with me? That's what got us into this mess," He countered, not wanting to answer her question.

She glared at him, "Why should I tell you?"

"Then why should I tell you?" He sighed, running his fingers through his already messy hair, "You should go to sleep. My mother will tire you out with all the wedding details later, and it's been a long day since we came from Hogwarts this morning." Even to him, it seemed like a lifetime since he was in the castle.

"Fine, then get out of my room," she snapped, turning the other way again.

Draco got up from the bed and crossed the room, "Sleep well," he said quietly before closing the door and crossing through the baby room where the second crib had been added. He glanced around the room, wondering how much he was going to mess being a father up, and how quickly he would do so. He had already messed up on being a good son to his father.

**Don't be afraid to give me any comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, or ideas! Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I don't own any of the characters, that is all thanks to the amazing J.K. Rowling**

**Chapter 7**

"…and caviar, of course, escargots, deviled eggs…" Mrs. Malfoy rattled on and on the long list of hors d'oeuvres for the wedding reception. Ginny just nodded along, bored out of her mind, not fully sure why Narcissa was having such a great debate on the meal selection—something about steak being superior to chicken, but salmon being superior to steak.

"And for wedding colors, green and silver would work wonderfully. Especially a Slytherin green with your hair color," she looked distastefully at Ginny's red hair. "Have you thought about changing your hair color? I can give you a potion for your hair and it won't fade for years," Narcissa patted her own hair fondly, "you might even be able to pull off being a blonde with your fair complexion."

"Actually," it was one of the first times Ginny had spoken up in the last 5 hours about the wedding details instead of just nodding along, "I'm quite happy with my hair color, so I believe I'll keep that. As far as the colors go, I'd prefer a lighter green and gold."

Narcissa looked at her carefully, "Very well," she said finally, as she made a few changes to her scroll of parchment. "Lucius will be walking you down the aisle, and the Dark Lord will be the official."

Ginny's eyes bulged, "Couldn't someone else be the official?"

"He wants to do this marriage especially. Just be thankful he's not having you join the Death Eaters."

Ginny closed her eyes and just nodded her unneeded consent.

Narcissa glanced at the clock, "And the dressmaker should be arriving shortly. I've already got several ideas for your wedding gown," she smiled proudly. "This will be your debut into proper wizarding society after all, even if you will be pregnant for it. So something elegant, silk, with a long train," Narcissa was smiling off into the distance, imagining some gown. And Ginny had a nagging suspicion that she was recreating her own wedding dress for Ginny. "Thankfully you aren't far enough along yet that it shows."

The dressmaker arrived a few minutes later, not talking to Ginny, only to Narcissa. Apparently she only cared for those who handed her the actual money. "Stand up straighter!" The dressmaker snapped at Ginny for the seventy-sixth time (literally, she had been counting). Ginny readjusted herself, her back killing her. The dressmaker put the finishing touches on the dress Narcissa had imagined an hour and a half later. The train was longer than Ginny was tall; it had long sleeves, all silk, and a huge bow in the back. Ginny felt like the Yeti with all of the piles of fabric, it was completely unflattering to her slim figure. Narcissa began walking around Ginny like a vulture, examining every inch of her. "It will do," she said after some time, looking proud.

"No," Ginny said quickly, looking at Narcissa. "I want something different."

"We just finished this dress though. It's a spitting image of my own wedding dress."

"I'm not you though. Like every other girl, I've had dreams of my own wedding and wedding dress," Ginny gestured to all of the fabric, "And this dress was not in the dream. I want to at least try something like how I imagined."

Narcissa sighed, "Very well, but I still have the final say." She nodded to the dressmaker as Ginny began to describe the dress, finally taking charge.

An hour later, Ginny was standing in a strapless gown that came to her mid-calf. The bodice was silk and simple, but with a certain elegance to it. The bottom was made of tulle in a princess style, showing off a small bit of her leg so the guests would be able to see the gold high heels she had picked out. Narcissa looked her over, circling her two times. "Just make it longer, and we'll use it." Ginny smiled, feeling successful. Narcissa looked up at her with a faint smile, "You might just make a decent lady of the manor, Ginerva."

XX

The dressmaker had left to make final alterations on Ginny's dress, and now she and Narcissa were sitting down in Narcissa's personal parlor, looking at a calendar. "It's the 23rd now, and you go back to Hogwarts the 5th. We have a New Years Eve ball already planned for the Dark Lord's birthday. We'll formally announce your engagement then, and we'll have the wedding the 2nd. That should give us enough time. Many of the decorations we can just reuse from the ball as well," Narcissa said, filling in dates on the calendar.

Ginny began to feel sick once there was actually a date for her wedding, even sicker when she thought about the fact that she was marrying Draco bloody Malfoy. "We won't have to share a room together, will we?"

"You and Draco? Well, at Hogwarts you will, you'll be moving into his Head Boy room. While you live here, we have set up your rooms so that both of you can get to the baby room if you prefer not to sleep in the same room. However, Draco's room is big enough that later on you will hopefully share the same room. But you will have to consummate the marriage that night, otherwise it won't be legal." The wheels in Ginny's head started to turn when Narcissa said that, "And we will ensure that you and Draco consummate the marriage," Narcissa added in, as if she noticed the wheels turning. Ginny nodded, her hopes shot down again.

"Are you sure it's safe though? Since I'm pregnant I mean," Ginny asked, searching for another loophole.

"You're early enough in the pregnancy that it will be. I'm sure Lucius will talk to Draco about being careful though. Towards the end of your pregnancy, you won't be able to however."

Ginny had turned red, "Err, okay." So she would only have to have sex with him once, she could handle that. Then at Hogwarts she would make some sort of barrier in the bed that they couldn't cross. He got his heir after all; they wouldn't need another child after the twins were born. He could go back to Pansy for all she cared.

"You'll also have to sign a nuptial agreement, just making your vows legal. Mostly about custody of the children upon a divorce, conditions for divorce—mainly if one of you tarnishes the Malfoy name, your yearly allowance; the basic provisions." Narcissa glanced at the clock, "Well it is 5 o'clock now—we have been going over these details for 7 hours. We'll continue this tomorrow again. I'll see you at dinner, remember, 7 o'clock sharp."

Ginny nodded, watching the older woman rise gracefully from her chair and leave. Ginny sighed, heading back to her room to rest until dinner.

XX

After dinner, Draco went up to the owlery to ask Goyle to be his best mate in the wedding, since there was now an official date for it. He ran his fingers through his hair; it would be interesting explaining it to him as to why he was suddenly marrying a blood-traitor. For years everyone had always assumed that he would marry Pansy—as if, she was just something to preoccupy himself.

He looked around the different owls, but Firebolt was missing. His eyes narrowed at the spot his owl usually perched, everyone in his family knew not to use his owl. No one was staying at the manor right now to borrow it, and even if someone were, they would have asked him. "Weasley," he muttered, heading down to their connecting rooms.

He pounded loudly on her door from the baby room, and then opened it right up to reveal Weasley sitting by the window. "You're supposed to wait until the person says 'Come in'," Weasley said, sounding bored.

"You borrowed my owl," he said through gritted teeth.

"Well, we're getting married soon, so I believe that makes your owl 'our' owl." She kept looking out the window, which only made him angrier that she wouldn't look at him.

"Who did you owl?" He asked, trying to remain calm, but still extremely tense.

"That's really none of your concern."

"Yes, it is actually. Completely disregarding the fact that you took my owl without asking, you're not allowed to use anyone's owls here. You could have been sending secret messages to Potter or one of the Order members. Or telling your family you were pregnant."

"And why can't I tell my parents that I'm being forced into a marriage with someone who hates me? Why can't I tell them that I'm pregnant? Why can't I try to get some form of support from someone?" She had turned around finally and tears were beginning to run down her face, "I'm doing everything your family is asking me to do. I'm sacrificing my beliefs, life, hopes, and dreams all for your family's political advancement! And no one gives a damn about me! No one cares about what color I want the baby room to be, or what colors I want for the wedding—I have no say. Mostly, no one cares how I'm bloody feeling!"

Draco looked away from her crying face, she had made some good points, after all, she and he were still on last name basis, "In all fairness, I tried to talk to you last night about your dream and you snapped at me to get out of your room."

"What about at Hogwarts? You completely avoided me. I went around for 6 weeks feeling utterly alone thanks to your ban on me telling anyone. I wanted my parents to hear about my pregnancy and engagement from me. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"We would have let you send a brief message to them at a later time, one that we reviewed," he mumbled, starting to feel bad. He looked back over at her, watching her wipe away some of her tears.

She sat down on her bed, looking at the ground, "I'm starting to give up, Malfoy. I can't keep fighting when I'm not getting anywhere. I'm never going to get the life I want, or even parts of the life I want."

He leaned against a wall with his arms folded across his chest, looking at her, "Potter?"

She shook her head, "Just to be married to someone who I love and loves me," she paused for several moments, then she glanced up at him, "You might be somewhat right about Harry and me, about what you said last night." She looked back down at the floor and Draco felt a glimmer of triumph. So he finally had something that Potty wanted and couldn't have. It was a childish thought, but old habits die hard.

"Look, we may not like each other and I am sorry that this isn't exactly how you imagined your life, but this isn't how I imagined my life either. We might as well try to work together."

She looked up at him, "How did you imagine your life?"

Draco looked up at her, "Well getting married at 17 never really was in the life plan, nor was getting someone pregnant while at Hogwarts. I'm usually careful about that," he shrugged, looking down, trying to think back, "I had always planned on just going into my father's business, I suppose," he looked back up at her, "Although I suppose that is an option I still have."

"I'm not going back to Hogwarts next year, am I?" She asked quietly.

"I'm sorry…Ginny," he forced her name out of his mouth, watching her look at him suspiciously as he said her name. "I just said that we should try to work together, I figured saying each other's real names would be a good starting place," he said in defense to her silence.

"Why did you sleep with me that night to begin with?" She asked, watching him carefully.

Draco stuck his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor right below her feet, "You were one of the few in Hogwarts that was still fighting back. You always had a sarcastic reply for someone; it was nice to know that not everyone was giving into the madness. And we all need someone to hold onto that keeps us sane, away from the chaos, even if it's just for a few minutes," he confessed quietly, briefly letting down some walls. "Not to mention," he quickly began with a smirk, "you offered. Any guy would have taken you up on that offer."

**If you want to imagine Ginny's wedding dress, it's like the dress Taylor Swift wore in her music video "Our Song" while she's dancing around on her porch. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I just want to thank all of those who have read and reviewed. Oh, and I still don't own any of the characters.**

**Chapter 8**

Ginny stayed in her room all day Christmas. She had told a house elf to inform the Malfoy family that she was feeling unwell and just wanted to rest in her room for the day. She didn't want to partake in any of the Malfoy traditions, for all she knew they were roasting marshmallows over burning muggles right now as a form of entertainment. She shuddered, pulling the covers around herself tighter. Right now, she and her mum would be setting out Christmas dinner for the family and any other Order members who showed up. The house would smell wonderful no matter where you went and everyone would be talking and laughing until the early hours of the morning. It wouldn't be so dull and dreary as it was at the manor.

There was a knock coming from the baby's room, "Come in," she said, hoping Mal—Draco wouldn't be coming to force her down to some sort of Malfoy Christmas event.

"Happy Christmas," he said, coming into the room, standing there slightly out of place. She noticed that he had a few packages in his hands. "Since you're 'feeling unwell'," he gave a slightly friendly smirk as if he knew she was faking it, "I figured I'd give you your gifts since you missed opening them this morning."

Ginny sat up, rising her eyebrows, "Gifts?" Who would possibly give her a gift; they had been blocking her mail. She wasn't even sure if her parents had gotten her brief letter.

"Yes, it is a tradition to give out gifts on Christmas," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He moved closer to her, handing her a present. "This one is from my parents, well, more from my mother."

Ginny opened it up the traditional Weasley style: tearing apart the wrapping paper in shreds, something that must be barbaric to the Malfoys. Inside the box were several pregnancy books, a book on how to raise your pure-blood child properly (which Ginny looked at with scorn and tossed it away from the rest of the books), and just several other pleasure reading books. Other than the pure-blood supremacy book, Ginny loved the thought. She looked up at Draco, smiling a bit. "These are wonderful, thank you."

He nodded, handing her a few more packages: a necklace to ward off the szuies from Luna as she now thought that 'szuies' were highly attracted to Ginny and some chocolates from Neville. "We examined them all to make sure there were no secret messages or poisons," Draco explained.

He then handed her the last and biggest package. "This one is from your family."

Ginny grabbed onto it quickly as though it would disappear into thin air if she didn't act fast enough. She tore apart the wrapping paper to reveal a red sweater with a gold 'G' on it. She grinned, holding the sweater to her face, breathing in deeply the familiar smells of the burrow that were still inlaid with the wool. She set down the sweater, looking at the rest of the package. There were two matching miniature sweaters, for whom she assumed were for her babies next winter, both done in red, only one sweater had a gold '1' on it and the other sweater had a gold '2' on it. Ginny gave a small laugh at the sly attempt her mum did to promote Gryffindor over Slytherin. Her parents had also included some baked goods, Ginny's old stuffed unicorn from when she was a baby, and her favorite children's book. She glanced up at Draco with tears brimming in her eyes, "Thank you."

"Your brothers also included in some of their joke products, but we had to take those out in case you brought them back to Hogwarts with you and caused some more mayhem," he smirked, "Although, many people were impressed with that firework display over Carrow's door." Ginny gave a weak smile, remembering the night before the firework display went off.

Draco pulled out a small box from his robes, "Err, I have something for you too." He handed the box to her awkwardly.

Ginny looked down at the box, not taking it and making his outreached hand look even more awkward, "No, it's fine. I didn't get anything for you anyways."

"That's fine. Just take it; it's not going to eat your hand off."

Ginny reached out and took it carefully regardless. She opened it to reveal a small diamond with a simple cut on a slim gold band. She looked up at him surprised, "A ring…?"

He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged, "We're getting married, so it makes sense that you have an engagement ring."

She smirked a bit, "Did your mum strongly suggest that you get me a ring?"

"No," he said simply, not elaborating.

Ginny looked down at the ring again, quietly mouthing, "Oh." He was being so bloody confusing with calling her 'Ginny' and giving her an actual engagement ring. She took the ring out of the velvet box and slid it on her left ring finger. It automatically fit itself to her finger. She looked down at her hand; it actually looked good on her finger—nothing too big or extravagant, something simple, much like herself.

She looked back up at him, "Thanks… Draco," she gave him a weak smile.

"So you're not going to come down for Christmas dinner?"

"No, I'm sorry. I'm still not feeling well," Ginny said quietly, looking back down at her sweater.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything," he said, walking out and shutting the door behind him.

XX

The days passed by slowly, filled with wedding planning, Ginny reading though the pregnancy books, and silent meals. Slowly, December 31st rolled around and Ginny slid into a slim fitting floor length emerald green dress and silver heels that were picked out by Narcissa for the ball specifically. She curled her red hair, letting it hang down her back.

There was a knock on her door at 9 o'clock sharp and she went over to open it, revealing Draco standing there looking poised in black pants, shirt, and robes with his blond hair slicked back. He looked so much older than a seventeen year old should look, she thought sadly.

"Ready?" He asked as he straightened his cuffs and robes out.

She nodded, walking out of the door with him, while he put his hand on her lower back, guiding her into the ball room. "I should have warned you earlier, but some press will be here for when we announce our engagement. They'll be taking pictures, so you'll need to look somewhat happy." Ginny nodded, faking a smile, before he continued, "And it's the Dark Lord's birthday, so of course he'll be here. He'll probably want to talk to us as well," he sighed, "Just stick with me and don't look panicked."

"Alright. How late do we have to stay for?"

"Well it is New Year's Eve, so until at least 1 probably."

Ginny nodded, "Well I get tired easily right now, so I'll probably be sitting for most of the night…"

"That's fine." He steered her into the ballroom and Ginny instantly looked around for the tall, cloaked figure of the main person who turned her life upside down, who put her entire family in fear. "He won't be here yet," Draco said, leaning down into her ear, "He likes to make a grand entrance between 10 and 11." Ginny nodded, feeling a little bit more relaxed now that she had more time to mentally prepare herself.

He brought her over to a table where Goyle and Crabbe were already sitting with some younger looking Slytherin girls as dates. He held out her chair for her to sit in while Crabbe and Goyle leered at her. She looked down at the table self consciously, wondering how much they knew about her.

"Crabbe, Goyle, I'd like to introduce you to Ginerva Weasley, my fiancé." Ginny looked up and gave a weak smile and nodded her head at them, while Draco gave his mates a hard look. They both gave him confused looks, but Draco shrugged it off and ordered a firewhiskey for himself and Ginny looked back down at the table.

Eventually, Ginny and Draco were the only ones at their table, Crabbe and his date had gone off and Goyle and his date were dancing. Ginny was looking around the ballroom at the various Death Eaters dancing, some were even smiling. She watched Pansy Parkinson walk up to them, "Hello, Draco," she smiled coyly at him, not even acknowledging Ginny.

"Hello, Pansy. How are you tonight?"

"I'd be better if you and I had a dance," Ginny watched Pansy bat her eyelashes at him.

"Actually, I was just going to ask my fiancé to dance," Draco said, standing up and offering his hand to Ginny who looked at it unsure, but placed her hand in his and stood up. He moved them onto the dance floor and put his hand on her back and taking her other hand in his.

"You didn't want to dance with her? Weren't you going to originally marry her?"

To her surprise, Draco chuckled, "I hate her, actually. She's suffocating, and she calls me Drakie-poo. Only way I'd marry her was if it were arranged."

Ginny nodded, guessing that at one point, or even still now, he had said the same thing about marrying her. The music changed over to something sinister abruptly and people moved from the dance floor. Draco pulled her back to the sidelines, putting his arm around her waist protectively.

"Remember what I said, don't look panicked. He won't hurt you, at least not yet," Draco murmured to her quietly.

Voldemort apparated in and everyone bowed, Draco's hand gently bending her back so she bowed. Ginny looked up at the cloaked man and gave an involuntarily shuddered at being so close to him and so defenseless. "Hello, my loyal followers," Voldemort began with a smirk, circling around everyone, "Thank you all for coming to my birthday celebration. I've never been one to blow out birthday candles, although I do enjoy setting certain other things on fire…" With a flick of his wand, bodies floated in above the heads of the Death Eaters and with another flick, the bodies were set on fire, elevating above everyone's head.

Ginny stared up at the burning people; nothing could have mentally prepared her for this—some of which were still screaming, their faces twisting in agony. "Oh…oh my…" she whispered, unable to look away from the people who she identified as muggles from their clothing. She couldn't take it anymore and buried her face into Draco's chest to try and block out the images already ingrained in her head.

"Remember what I said about not looking panicked," he said quietly, taking her hand again once the music began to play and started to waltz with her as if there wasn't burning flesh above their heads.

"How can you be so calm?" Ginny whispered, moving her eyes up to glance at the corpuses.

"I'm not. Don't look up; it will only make it worse," he said expressionless as he spun her around.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on his shoulder as they danced.

"Hello Draco, Miss Weasley," a cold voice said, coming from behind Ginny. She turned around and stood next to Draco.

Draco bowed, "My Lord, Happy Birthday."

Ginny looked up at Voldemort and did a quick curtsy, "Hello," she felt Draco's elbow dig into her side, "Err, my Lord." Voldemort sneered down at her and she paled, everyone was bowing, why did on earth did she curtsy?

"I believe congratulations are in order. We're so lucky to have a Weasley renounce their ways. Your family is a very good breeding stock, as we can already see," he glanced down at her stomach and smirked. He looked back at Draco, "It could be worse, Draco." He nodded to the two of them and walked away to someone else.

Ginny took a deep breath and gave a weak smile at Draco, "I wasn't supposed to curtsy, was I?"

He gave another chuckle, "It was something different—that's for sure." He took her hand again and resumed dancing with her. "It's almost midnight. They'll expect us to kiss and then they'll make the formal announcement."

Ginny nodded, moving her brown eyes to meet his gray ones, "Before this all happens, this will give my family more protection than before, right?"

She watched him hesitate and her heart sank, "I'll do what I can to offer more protection than before, but if they were to get in the way of the Dark Lord, he wouldn't think twice about killing them," he said, choosing his words carefully.

Ginny closed her eyes to keep the tears in and gave a small nod, "Thanks."

The final minute of the year came and with each last second, Voldemort sent in another muggle into the room to replace the burned out corpuses of before. She knew it was the New Year when all 60 muggles were set on fire at once. She looked up at Draco and faked a smile, closing her eyes just as his lips connected with hers.

"We would like to announce at this time, that our son, Draco Malfoy, is engaged to and will be married to Ginerva Weasley on January 2nd, and you are all invited," rang out Mr. Malfoy's amplified voice which was followed by clapping. Ginny and Draco pulled away and Ginny faked a smile, turning a shade of pink from all of the attention. Draco kept his arm around her waist as he thanked everyone for their congratulations.

"I need to sit down," she whispered into his ear after they had thanked dozens of people, her feet and back were killing her. He nodded and moved her back to their table, holding out the chair for her. She sat down, realizing just how tired she was. "How much longer do we need to stay here?" Her eyes moved up to the ceiling again, most of the corpses were gone, luckily, but the smell of burnt flesh was still in the air.

Draco looked around, "Another hour or so, just stay here." Ginny nodded, trying to stay awake as people came up to her and Draco, observing her quietly then going back to their friends to talk about the new Malfoy bride.

He finally got up and excused them, and took her hand, bringing her out of the ballroom. Once they were a safe distance away, Ginny slid off her silver heels and moved away from his grip. She moved up to her room quickly, eager to get away from the Death Eaters and the plotting and the torture. She swallowed down some tears as she shut the door to her room, leaving Draco somewhere down the hall.

She changed into an old shirt and shorts, putting her large hand knitted sweater on (her mum had even taken into account how big her stomach would get), crawling into her bed, trying to forget everything, but tears just started to run down her face. She climbed out of her bed, walking through her room, into the baby's room and stopping at the door connecting to Draco's room. She knocked hesitantly.

"Come in," Draco called, and she opened the door, staring at him through watery eyes.

"I can't be alone," she whispered, wanting more than anything in the world to feel safe and normal again.

He looked at her, "You can stay the night here if you'd like…" He gestured to a spot beside him in the bed. She nodded, trying to wipe away some of unending tears with her sleeve. She walked over to his bed, climbing in and burying her face into a pillow, sobs slowly starting to take over her body. Draco's arm carefully wrapped around her waist, and pulled her into him. She put her face in his chest, crying herself to sleep.

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thanks for reading everyone. And yes, I still don't own the characters. This chapter is a bit short.**

**Chapter 9**

Draco felt the balance of the bed shift as the red hair that had draped over him the night before moved off of the bed and he stirred awake. "Where's the bathroom?" The redhead's voice said urgently from beside the bed.

He groaned at the noise and kept his eyes shut, "The second door to the right." He heard footsteps run to the bathroom and open the door quickly. He opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the light that now came from the bathroom. He slid from the bed, crossing through his room to get to the bathroom to make sure Ginny was alright.

"Ginny?" He heard the very un-delightful sound of her getting sick; thankfully she at least made it to the loo on time. He leaned against the doorway, watching her lean over the toilet, "That's disgusting."

He watched her pick her head up from the toilet and lean her head against the wall, "That's pregnancy," she replied back, sounding tired. He nodded, still disturbed and went back into his room.

She came out a few minutes later and Draco looked up at her from his bed. She looked so much older than 16, he thought to himself, it wasn't like her face had wrinkles suddenly, but the youthful innocence of 16 that everyone was supposed to enjoy was replaced with a jaded look in her eyes. A slight pang of guilt went through Draco's stomach—after all, he was the one who forgot to use the protection spell.

"Err, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've had morning sickness for the past 10 weeks now. It's almost over with." Draco watched her walk over to the door that connected the rooms, having little idea as to what 'morning sickness' actually was, "See you tomorrow," she said quietly, leaving the room.

Draco froze with the realization that their wedding was tomorrow. He got out of the bed again, this time going over to his closet to get dressed. Then he would owl Goyle, Crabbe, and Zabini for some last minute, drunken bachelor's fun.

XX

"And do you, Ginerva Weasley, agree to obey and respect your husband, in all actions, thoughts, and words?" Ginny briefly looked up at Voldemort's smirking face, who was reading the wedding rights. Her gaze was then directed past Draco's head at a Death Eater who had a firm grip on her brother Charlie while his wand was pointed threatening at Charlie's shaking head.

"I do," Ginny said, trying to keep her voice steady and strong so as not to give anyone the benefit of seeing her cry. She ignored Charlie's downfallen face from behind Draco; her fate was sealed once she got pregnant. He'd understand one day that she was doing this to protect him and the rest of her family—even if it meant having to swear by ridiculous vows of obedience that had no mention of love.

"You may kiss the…bride," Voldemort said, slightly disgusted, as if he would have used another word to describe Ginny other than 'bride'. She briefly wondered if Voldemort had ever kissed anyone before Draco's lips met hers. She kept the kiss brief, looking over Draco's shoulder once more as she pulled away to watch the Death Eater apparate Charlie away again, her hopes fell. It would have been nice to talk to Charlie again, or just anyone from her old life. Just for some form of comfort.

"I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Draco Malfoy," Voldemort claimed loudly, a slight sneer on his face. Ginny felt her stomach turn and she faked a smile to the large audience of Death Eaters as Draco's arm moved around her waist and pulled her into him possessively. The Malfoys had gotten what they wanted.

XX

Draco couldn't wait for the reception to end. Yes, his mother knew how to throw grand events with all of the right decorations and food, but she had told the house elves not to give him any firewhiskey, which automatically decreased the amount of fun he could possibly have.

As the party was finally winding down several hours later, he got up from the table and offered Ginny his hand, "Are you ready?" He watched her hesitate before taking hold of it and he helped her up. They walked silently to his room and he opened the door for her, letting her walk inside first then followed her in, closing the door.

"Your dress looks nice," he commented, trying to break the silence. It was the truth after all; the bodice hugged her growing chest just right and made her waist look small. He took off his dress robes and set them down on a chair.

"Oh, thanks…" she said awkwardly, taking off her jewelry, trying to delay.

Draco watched her, not sure how this was supposed to work. Usually when he had sex with a girl, they were completely willing and eager. Most of the time, he didn't have to do any work, just enjoy it. It was a certain benefit of being the Slytherin Sex God.

He walked over behind her and started to unzip her dress, kissing her neck. He felt her tense up under his touch and he let her dress drop to the floor. She turned around and faced him in her bra and knickers, her face expressionless. He had to admit, the dress looked better on the floor. She reached up and unbuttoned his shirt, helping him take it off. He took her hand and led her over to the bed, taking off his pants before climbing in after her.

He hovered over her, starting to kiss her, but only getting back weak responses. He let out a sigh and pulled away to look down at her, "You know we have to do this."

"So just do it and stop trying to seduce me. I thought men hated foreplay anyways."

Draco rolled his eyes, of course she was being difficult, yet another thing he wasn't used to. "I'm trying to be romantic. I'm trying to make this special for you." But he unhooked her bra and slid down her knickers, tossing them aside. He moved off of her to take off his silk boxers and hovered back over her.

The entire time, Ginny kept her eyes closed; and honestly, Draco wasn't quite into their consummation either, he was getting bored. He usually had girls moaning, twisting, and screaming from bliss from underneath him for several minutes, but he finished quickly and rolled off of her. But it was now official and they were legally married, until death did one of them part.

Ginny was still lying down and Draco laid down next to her, pulling her closer into him. He thought briefly about the night that had gotten them into this, and he couldn't remember if he had stayed after for a bit, or left quickly. He looked down at her hair that was spread over him and the pillows. He had never noticed how red her hair was compared to her brother's orange-red hair. He ran a few fingers through her silky hair, finding himself slightly hoping that their children's hair would be as vibrant as hers.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

After their wedding night, Ginny had kept away from Draco, hiding in her room with the pregnancy books or packing again for Hogwarts. But she was back at Hogwarts now, staring at the King-sized bed that they would be sharing in his Head Boy room. The house elves had already brought her belongings from the Gryffindor house to his room, so she had nothing to preoccupy herself. She just wanted to sleep, just not in the same bed as him. She gave a small sigh, still thinking about what he had said over break. She hated how right he was about her feelings for Harry. Thoughts of Harry had slowly stopped occupying her mind except for worrying about his safety along with Ron and Hermione's. The safety net she had once found in Harry had disappeared.

She went into her dresser and pulled out her pajamas and the oversized Christmas sweater from her mum that she had taken to wearing at night and changed in the attached personal bathroom. She came out, pulling her hair out of the pony tail, letting her red hair free.

"You're going to sleep already?" Draco asked, just coming into the room from the Slytherin common room, looking down at the shorts she typically wore to bed, moving his eyes back up to her flowing hair.

"Yeah, I'm tired," Ginny responded, getting into his…their bed and pulling the covers tightly around her to protect herself from Draco's ogling eyes.

"Okay, goodnight then."

Ginny moved over the edge of the bed to stay away from him when he finally would get in as well and closed her eyes, imaging she was back in her room at the Burrow.

X

The following morning, Ginny felt eyes on her all throughout breakfast from most of the school, particularly from the Gryffindor table. She kept her eyes down on her plate, which she had piled on more food than she normally would have. Just looking down at her plate for 3 she felt large. She took her time eating, knowing that as soon as she and Draco were separated for their respective classes, someone would bombard her with questions.

Sure enough, once she was heading to her History of Magic class, while Draco was heading to his Potions class, Neville came up to her. "Ginny, can I talk to you?" His eyes searched around to make sure that it was safe to be talking to her. Ginny nodded, figuring that Neville would let everyone know what she said, so she wouldn't have to constantly repeat herself.

Ginny walked over to the side of the corridor and held up her hand before he started to talk and looked up at him, "Before you start, because I know exactly where you are going with this, I was forced into an arranged marriage with Draco Malfoy because," she hesitated, "after a heated moment, I'm now pregnant with the Malfoy heir. Yes, I am fine, I'm safe. No, I'm not suddenly a Death Eater supporter." She watched an array of emotions cross Neville's face as she spoke, going from shock, to horror, to some slight anger, and then tense relief. "I wanted to tell you, but they told me to keep silent. And since they have a lot over me—all my family and friends, I didn't want to risk your safety," she explained next, guessing his next question.

Neville shook his head, going back to shock, "Are you sure it's his?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him, her voice accusing "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just in case it wasn't his, then you might be able to get out of the marriage…" Neville said carefully, seeming to realize that he was in dangerous territory with her at the present moment.

Ginny started to turn red from anger, "I'm not a whore, Neville. You're supposed to be my friend and know that. He was my first, and my only." She walked past him to head to her class, having no clue to where her sudden anger had come from.

Neville watched her leave, still shocked from the news, but even more shocked at her sudden lash of anger, hoping that it was from the pregnancy and not because of all the time she was spending with Death Eaters.

X

Later on in the day, Ginny walked into her Dark Arts class with two minutes to spare, sitting down at her seat that was normally beside Luna. She glanced around the room for Luna, but didn't see her. Although, it wouldn't be unlike Luna to dreamily show up for class a few minutes late, rambling on about some imaginary creatures she thought were affecting Hogwarts.

By the time Carrow started teaching, Luna still wasn't there; nor was she there for the rest of the class. The more Ginny thought about it, she hadn't seen Luna at all since Hogwarts had resumed; grant it, she had only been back for one day, but regardless... Ginny turned to a Ravenclaw beside her, "Did Luna come back to school after the holidays?" She asked in a low voice, getting a shake of the head in return. Ginny felt herself begin to panic at the thought of Luna gone, her panic only growing knowing that she couldn't do anything about it—at least not while she was in her Dark Arts class.

She barely paid attention to what Carrow was lecturing; she just sat there, tapping her quill anxiously against the paper, counting down minutes until Carrow released them from the class. When he did, she practically ran from the class, walking quickly to Transfiguration where Draco would be getting out of class. When she saw his blond head, she grabbed his arm quickly and pulled him away from the steady flow of students that were still exiting the classroom.

"Look, I know you are anxious for tonight, but you'll have to wait," he said with a smirk. Ginny glanced around, seeing Goyle and Crabbe still standing there and watching them. She turned back around and glared at him, not wanting to deal with his egotistical and hormonal humor right now to appease his henchmen.

"Where's Luna?" She said urgently, keeping her voice low.

"Loony Lovegood?" He asked, still smirking.

"_Luna_," she stressed, "Where is she?"

He moved his eyes from her face to his friends still standing there, then back down to her, "I'll tell you later."

Ginny sighed and let go of his arm, "Fine, I'll see you tonight." She left, hoping that his response meant that she was still alive.

X

She waited anxiously for the rest of the day to end until she was back up in their shared room, waiting for him on the bed while a million horrific thoughts of what could have happened to her went through her head. When he finally came in, she jumped up from the bed, "Where's Luna?" She asked, panic still evident in her voice.

She watched him let out a sigh, "Her father was printing many stories in The Quibbler that went against the Dark Lord, so He had Luna taken back to the manor. She'll be back if and when her father delivers Potter to Him."

Ginny stared at him, her voice growing low again, "How long has Luna been at the manor?"

"Since the holidays, they took her right off of the train."

Ginny's ears turned red and her Weasley temper took over, "SHE WAS AT THE MANOR THE ENTIRE TIME AND NO ONE TOLD ME? I COULD HAVE USED A DAMN FRIEND IN THAT TIME!" Her hands were in fists as she yelled at him, "ARE THEY EVEN TAKING CARE OF HER THERE? SHE COULD HAVE USED A FRIEND TOO, I'M SURE!"

He stared at her in shock, obviously not accustomed to girls yelling at him. She stared at him for a short moment, feeling herself heated up, and she walked out of the room not wanting to be in the same room as him any longer or to give him something to continue gawking at.

X

From then on, Ginny stayed in the library until curfew and would take her time walking down to the dungeons; sometimes conveniently 'forgetting' her way down to the Slytherin house. Frequently, when she got back to the room he was doing homework, sleeping, or on Head Boy duty, so she could avoid speaking with him. In the morning, she would wake up and get ready before Draco was even awake, and then would go back to the library before breakfast was served and she had to meet up with him.

Unfortunately, with all of the time that Ginny spent in the library her homework got done quickly. Especially since people had begun to avoid her as it got around that she was married to Draco now. In truth, she was lonelier than when she couldn't tell anyone about her pregnancy.

Several weeks later, as Ginny was around 15 weeks pregnant, she had finished all of her homework for the rest of the week. She gave a small smile to herself, so this is what it felt like to be like Hermione, she mused to herself proudly. She had nothing else to do, so she packed her bag up again and headed to her room, hoping she could rest her swollen feet. She walked up to the Head Boy room and went in, staring at a dark-haired girl that was on top of Draco, who's hands were on her arse, pressing her against him as they snogged.

Ginny stared at them, her heart seizing up as she momentarily forgot how to speak, "Don't mind me," she finally said shortly, walking in and dropping her bag near her trunk with a loud thud as it hit the ground.

Draco pulled away from the girl's lips and the girl rolled off of Draco, Ginny vaguely recognizing her as Astoria Greengrass. Astoria smirked at Ginny then looked back at Draco. "I guess it's time for me to leave, I'll see you later," she leaned over and kissed his cheek, then left, with a slight swing of her hips.

Ginny watched her leave, then looked back at Draco who seemed to be racking his brain for all possible excuses she might buy, "You're back early," he finally said.

She glared at him, "Sorry to interfere with your cheating schedule! Now that I know I'll make sure to stay out of your way!"

"I wouldn't have had to get help from someone else if you were more willing and around."

Ginny felt her eyes tear up, "Don't you dare blame me! You have a hand! Maybe if you would have used your hand, you would have seen your bloody wedding ring!"

"Well, I need some human contact!" He claimed in defense.

"Sorry I was forced into this and not ready to jump your bones then!" Ginny cried out, not sure why she was so upset about him cheating on her. She knew as well as anyone that their marriage wasn't done out of love.

"Bloody hell! You've been avoiding me for weeks because I couldn't tell you about your crazy friend!"

"She's not crazy!"

"She's crazy," Draco stated, as if that would end the matter.

She ignored him, turning around to grab her pajamas from her dresser, intent on taking everything she needed then hiding away in the Room of Requirement for the night. As she closed the drawer, a pain in her stomach went off and she placed a hand on her slightly bulging stomach, "Ow," she whimpered, some of the tears she was holding back falling out.

She heard Draco behind her groan, "What now?"

"Stomach…" She winced, backing up to sit on the bed, keeping her hand on her stomach, and then she gave a small smile. "Come here."

Draco walked over to her, looking confused and still pissed off that she had interrupted his snogging session. She reached up and took his hand, placing it on her stomach and glanced up at him.

**A/N: Thanks everyone for reading! I've never been pregnant, so if I'm off with some of the weeks that swollen feet or mood swings happen, I'm sorry. I am using this (.com/) site to help though. So, I'd like to thank that site. Please review; I'm open to constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions…whatever. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Draco bent down and stared down at his hand on top of Ginny's stomach, which now had a slight bump. He couldn't tell who he was angry at: himself for caving into his desires or Ginny for leading him to those desires. Even though she was avoiding him, when she was around him she unknowingly teased him mercilessly for weeks with her shorts and her hair and her growing breasts. And now she had walked in on him when he was finally getting some relief. He still couldn't figure out why she had put his hand on her stomach. Was his hand supposed to start doing tricks? He suddenly felt a slight movement beneath his hand and looked up at her, "What was that?" He asked, looking up confused. Pregnancy wasn't something that was discussed at the manor.

"That was one of your children kicking," she responded with a faint smile, looking down at her stomach.

He looked back down at his hand, feeling movement from under his hand again, his anger dissolving, "Does it hurt you?"

"Not so bad, it's just sudden. It's the first time it's happened. I imagine that when they're bigger and both kicking at once it'll hurt more."

He felt himself smile, slightly amazed that unborn children had the power to do that, "That's…" His smile grew slightly larger at the thought of his future children.

She placed her hand over his, "I know."

He looked up at her, slowly standing upright again, "I'm sorry about you walking in on that."

Ginny's eyes met his, and he stared into her brown eyes, seeing them filled with distrust, "Are you sorry that I saw it, or are you sorry that you did it?"

"I'm a man, Ginny. I have needs that aren't currently being met by you."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "You're legal, Draco. You aren't a man just because you can apparate and use magic on whim or you can order firewhisky in a pub. I'm sorry I'm not meeting your 'needs', but I'm a human with feelings, not some sex toy for you to play around with." She got up from the bed and Draco moved out of her way, turning to watch her gather some more of her belongings from her dresser.

"Where are you going now?" He asked, growing tired of her hiding from him.

"Somewhere else to sleep for the night." She bent down to pick her clothes back up from the ground where she dropped them and Draco watched her arse rise in the air, and cursed her for teasing him yet again.

"And you wonder why I'm fooling around with other girls," he said, starting his defense, "It's because you're never here. You hide away from me; you sleep as far as you can from me, and leave before I'm even up in the morning. It's your fault too." Ginny stopped going through her drawers, seeming to contemplate what he had said. "I know that you were forced into this and you don't want this, but we're married now and—"

"Actually," she interrupted, turning back around to face him, "according to the nuptial agreement I signed, I could divorce you. I believe cheating counts as embarrassing the family," she smirked.

He stared at her, briefly wondering if the sorting hat had misplaced her, "Unfortunately, you're also carrying my heir, so I would get custody of the children, not to mention that your family would be in considerable more danger."

"That's all your family seems to be concerned about, heirs. Don't you think about anything else?" She asked frustrated.

"And staying in the Dark Lord's good graces. But, as I was trying to say before—we're married now and while we were rushed into this, perhaps we should try more to act like we're married."

"I'm not sleeping with you," she said quickly, making his hopes fall.

"We'll start slow," he said, thinking quickly, "like we're first dating." Draco had no clue to what dating actually entailed, he had never dated a girl in his entire life; he just had casual flings. He smiled proudly; he was in Slytherin for a reason after all.

"What's the point? When you date someone, if it doesn't work out you can end the relationship. We're in this…thing for life," she said bitterly.

"Alright, then go hide from me and I'll bring Astoria back up here," Draco said with a tone of finality that might have even made his father proud, thinking he had a made a good ultimatum.

He watched Ginny look down at the ground, her hair falling in her face, "Fine, we date. But we date my way," she looked back up at him and smirked, "Not yours. But if you cheat on me again, you'll wish it were Ron coming after you instead of me."

He nodded, still satisfied with himself. He moved closer to her and brushed some hair out of her face, bending his head down and kissing her softly.

She pulled away, "We're doing this my way, remember? So, for day 1, I think we'll limit this to cuddling, holding hands, and I could really use a foot massage."

"I'm not touching anyone's feet," Draco stated, there were certain things that a Malfoy wouldn't do, even for the prospect of sex.

He watched her move closer to him so their chests were barely touching, "I'd really, really appreciate it, Draco," she said seductively, as she looked up at him through her red eyelashes. Draco stared at her, the sorting hat defiantly made a mistake by not sorting her in Slytherin, but, as he glanced down at her chest, it was working.

He sighed, "Get on the bed." The statement would have been so much better if he were getting something out of it.

She smiled and took off her shoes, "I have lotion in the bathroom as well."

Draco nodded, going into the bathroom to grab the lotion and came out to find her on the bed, propped up and sockless. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" He muttered, putting some lotion on her feet.

"I do appreciate it though," she smiled at him a bit as he started give her a much needed foot massage.

XX

Ginny didn't trust Draco as far as she could throw him; but, if it would get her foot massages and some feigned support, then she would go along with his games. Even if she were oblivious to his intentions, he wouldn't get very far as she had to be careful carrying two babies. Luckily, she grew up with 6 protective brothers and she was well aware of boy's attentions when it came to her. Even Ron was about to punch Harry when they first started dating. Perhaps an actual friendship with Draco would make their marriage less awkward.

She let out a small sigh of content, cuddling in closer with to him as he put an arm around her. Maybe she could even get Luna released.

X

It was about two weeks after she and Draco started 'dating' and it was working fairly successfully—he walked her to her first class of the day, would give her foot massages (after much groaning and eye rolling), and they would sometimes even engage in normal conversations. And in return, he received a few snogging sessions. When he was on Head Boy patrolling, Ginny would do her homework in the library, not feeling comfortable in the Slytherin common room without him to defend her from any leering boys.

"Hey, Ginny," Neville said, walking over to her table in the back.

Ginny looked up from an essay and gave him a small smile, "Hey, Neville. How are you?"

"I'm good. Can I sit here?" He asked, already pulling out a chair and sitting down. "I wanted to talk to you about something. The other members of Dumbledore's Army are being watched carefully, as you know. But, Seamus was able to sneak in a supply of fireworks from your brother's shop from one of the tunnels," Neville said in a low voice, leaning in a bit over the table. Ginny nodded, waiting for him to continue. "Because we're being watched, and due to your, err, condition you can avoid—"

She nodded, "I'll do it. It's been awhile since I've made my brothers proud. Actually, about 4 months," she gave a small smile and glanced down at her stomach then looked back up at him. "Put them behind the tapestry on the 4th floor tonight and I'll get them ready."

Neville nodded, "Thanks, Ginny," he smiled at her then left.

Ginny nodded, waiting until right before curfew to get the fireworks from behind the tapestry and put them in her bag quickly before rushing off to the Slytherin dorms and back in her room.

She smiled a bit at Draco, "Hello."

"You're back late," he commented from his homework as she went into the bathroom to change in her pajamas.

"Sorry, next time I'll tell you so you can snog Astoria Greengrass again," she said as she came out of the bathroom, narrowing her eyes at him, still upset that he cheated on her. Like she figured, he shut his mouth. She got in on her side of the bed, "I'm tired, do you mind if we go to sleep now?"

He sighed, probably hoping that he would get something more than snogging tonight. "Alright," he said, getting in beside her. She laid her head down and closed her eyes, "Goodnight, Draco."

"Goodnight, Ginny," he replied, settling down as well.

Ginny kept her mind awake, going over all of the spells she remember off the top of her head, until she heard his breathing regulate into his normal slow, even breaths. She slowly moved from the bed, grabbing her wand and her bag filled with the fireworks.

She snuck down to the Great Hall, still clad in her pajamas, carefully with Nearly-Headless Nick's help, who would nod at her if the corridors were safe. She went inside the Great Hall, looking up at the night sky that was portrayed on the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" A voice came from behind her.

She jumped and turned around, distracted by the night sky, "Hi…Draco… I thought you were asleep?" She gave a weak smile, wondering if there were wards on the Great Hall's doors that went off to warn him that she was there.

He looked down at the bag she held in her hands, "Fireworks again?" He looked back up at her with an eyebrow raised, slightly smirking.

"Want to help?" She had already pulled out a firework, setting it for breakfast at 8 A.M. and levitating it behind Snape's Headmaster chair. She glanced over at Draco who was eying the fireworks with a look of lust, "Take one and set it for 8:30, put it behind a Carrow's chair."

She watched him hesitate to pick one up, and then started to fiddle around with it. She took the last one and put it behind the other Carrow's chair to go off at 9 A.M. She smiled at her work, packing up the bag again a few minutes later. "Ready?"

He sighed, taking her by her hand and leading her out of the Great Hall, pulling her quickly back to the dungeons, narrowly missing some Death Eaters that were on patrol. He shut the door to their room and stared at her, "Why would you even think about putting yourself in danger like that?"

"I'm not in any danger. I'm a Malfoy now and I'm pregnant with your pure-blood heir—I've got some protection. Besides, you helped too," she grinned.

He shook his head, his hand in his hair, "If you get caught, I'll get punished then."

The thrill vanished and Ginny suddenly felt extremely guilt, "I'm sorry, Draco; I didn't think of that." She moved closer to him and kissed him.

He sighed, "Let's just go back to sleep, we won't know until tomorrow morning."

Ginny slid back into the bed, pulling the covers over her and moved close to him, resting her head on his chest and looked up at him, "You know, the last time I set some of Fred and George's fireworks to go off was the night I got pregnant."

"Think we can recreate that night?" He smirked, running his fingers through her hair.

"Are you going to leave me right after again?"

"Of course not," he kissed her, slyly beginning to move from her and hover over her.

She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck, starting to enjoy the kissing. His hand started to move under her shirt and she pulled away, "We've only been dating for 2 weeks," she smirked, staring up at him. Her eyes wandered from his hair that was falling down in front of his face, to his gray eyes that were looking down at her, down to his soft lips. She could feel herself blush, thankful that it was dark in the room.

"I thought we were recreating that night though."

"Sorry, but couples date longer than 2 weeks before they sleep together. Can you move off of me before you crush one of the babies now?" She suddenly felt nervous being so close to him, and was thankful when he moved off of her and settled back down next to her. He put his arms around her and she hesitantly cuddled into him, telling herself that this was all to rescue Luna, "Goodnight, Draco."

"Goodnight l— goodnight," he responded. Ginny couldn't be sure, but it sounded like he was about to call her 'love'.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

At 8 o'clock sharp the following morning, Snape jumped out of the Headmaster's chair at the sound of explosions behind him, pulling out his wand. Ginny watched Snape's face turn from caution to smoldering anger when he realized it was more fireworks before she looked back down at her plate to hide her smirk. To her right, Draco was staring down at his plate as well. She glanced over at him and made brief eye contact before taking another bite of her omelet.

It didn't take long for Snape to stop the fireworks that were attached to his chair—the professors had practice for stopping the fireworks. Ginny glanced up at Snape again as he looked around the room, searching the faces of Gryffindor for anyone that looked guilty; but like the rest of the Great Hall, they just looked amused at the death eater's disarray. Ginny glanced down at her watch and counted down until the second round of fireworks went off behind Potions Master Carrow.

Ginny and Draco looked over at each other again, Ginny giving a small smile at him, pleased that their plan had worked; now only having to get away with it.

"This has the potential of being quite romantic. Too bad Carrow and Snape are ready to commit murder and the fireworks aren't lighting up a night sky," Draco said quietly, moving in closer with a small smirk on his face.

"And that we hate each other," Ginny added, focusing on his smirk, beginning to realize that he had two smirks: one cruel and the other sweet and good-humored. A brief thought of how cute he looked when he was wearing his teasing smirk crossed her mind.

"I don't hate you, Weasel," he replied, looking at her for another moment before returning to his breakfast.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Carrow roared, his eyes flashing while Flitwick was extinguishing the sparks that were still flying from behind Carrow's chair, "AND WE WILL FIND OUT WHO DID THIS, AND THEY WILL REGRET IT!"

Ginny flinched at the screaming, looking up at Carrow, who seemed to have taken over Snape's Headmaster position for a moment.

"Let's go," Draco said, taking her hand and pulling her up.

"I'm still hungry though," Ginny claimed, taking a piece of toast with her.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Do you really want to stay in here with two angry Carrow siblings and Snape? Merlin, not even the Dark Lord would want to face them if they were on opposing sides."

Ginny sighed, moving along with him out of the Great Hall, "You try eating for three, Ferret."

He looked down at her, about to protest when Ginny's lips planted on his, pulled to him like a magnet in the middle of the doorway leading into the Great Hall. Draco's hand settled on her lower back and pushed her in closer to him while Ginny's arms wrapped around his neck, neither of them breaking away from the kiss despite the students rushing past them.

X

Later in the day, after being shoved away from Draco by the students stampeding out of the Great Hall and after rushing away bright red, Ginny was doing her homework in the back of the library.

"Gin!" A voice said in an urgent, low tone from nearby. Ginny looked around, seeing Neville hiding in one of the rows. Neville put a finger to his mouth, "The rest of Dumbledore's Army and I are hiding away. They've started to question anyone and everyone about the fireworks. We've decided it's not safe anymore for us, so we're leaving," he said in a low voice before she could say anything.

"How are all of you going to leave Hogwarts without getting caught?"

Neville smiled, "We're not leaving Hogwarts," he gave her a wink and she nodded in understanding. "Do you want to come with us? We'll take care of you and your babies."

Ginny placed her hand on her growing stomach, looking up at Neville's hopeful face, "What happens if I give birth there, or if we get caught? It could be harmful for the babies and annoying for the others. If it weren't for my children involved, I would. But it's not about me anymore."

"I know, Gin. But I'll protect you and them, I'm sure we can somehow get a book about delivering babies and the others would understand."

Ginny looked down at her stomach, part of her wanting to get away from the madness that had taken over Hogwarts; and another part, a smaller part, that wanted to get to know Draco better after his character change the night before. And she knew that if she went away with Neville, she would never have that opportunity again.

"I hate Malfoy, your brother hates him, Harry hates him; you know this," Neville continued with determination, "And I don't trust him with you, especially after he… I just don't want you with him, nor does anyone else."

"I think there might be more to him than you think, Neville. More than what any of us think," She looked up at him, moving her hand off of her stomach, "And while I appreciate you trying to protect me, I don't need your protection," her eyes narrowed on him, "or anyone's protection."

Neville sighed in defeat, nodding his head, "You know where we'll be then. Good luck, hopefully I'll see you soon in a less dismal situation," he gave a small smile and left, growing concerned about the affect Malfoy was beginning to have on her, especially since everyone in Hogwarts knew that it was supposed to be her and Harry together in the end.

XX

Draco looked up at Ginny from the bed when she walked into their dormitory, watching her set her bag down in its usual spot next to the bed, and correctly guessing that her next move would be to grab her change of clothes and go into their bathroom.

"Did anyone say anything about breakfast?" She asked when she came out, not quite looking at him.

"Well I got a few 'congratulations' and 'way to go mate,'" he responded, watching her turn pink at the memory of their very public snog, he gave a faint smile, quickly turning it over to a smirk when she looked up at him.

"I meant about the fireworks," Ginny said, still pink.

"Then no," he watched her move over the bed, wondering if their snog session from before would carry over into the bedroom, he could only hope.

She nodded, "Then congratulations Malfoy, you got away with your first resistance to the Death Eaters," she slid into the bed, looking over at him.

"You forget that I am a Death Eater, Malfoy," he countered, watching her blanch as he reminded her that she was a Malfoy now as well.

He watched her lay her head down on the pillow and turn to look at him, beginning to grow uncomfortable at the way she was studying him for so long and not saying anything.

"Just because you have the mark doesn't mean that you believe in the cause," Ginny finally said after several moments.

He met her warm brown eyes, "I don't know what I believe in anymore." He wasn't sure what had made him finally verbally admit it, but he guessed it was from the comfort that she showed in her eyes, as opposed to the cold, grey eyes that he was used to look at with his family. Damnit, she was seducing him emotionally—he had worked so hard at not showing emotion.

He watched her move closer, as she looked down at his marked arm and hesitantly touching the area around the mark. He flinched at the touch of her hands; no one had ever touched that close to his mark. Not even Astoria whose family had loyalties to the Dark Lord, not Pansy who admired him for becoming a Death Eater, not even his mother. Ginny pulled her hand away and Draco looked back up at her, "Don't…"

Ginny wordlessly understood, carefully placing her fingers back on his arm and tracing around the mark.

"I was raised to believe that wizards are superior to muggles, that those who were born as muggles had no place in the wizarding world and would only taint others. Of course the Dark Lord was our hero for that, with his ideas to cleanse the wizarding world of all of those who were unworthy, including those that advocated for muggle cooperation and befriended mudbloods," he gave her a slight apologetic look before continuing, enjoying her warm hands around his still raw skin, "And then my father failed to get the prophecy, and for punishment I was to receive the Dark Mark, which I did without complaint, believing that I would do something grand, earning the Dark Lord and my Father's respect finally."

He swallowed, watching the continuous movement of Ginny's fingers around his mark, "But as the time went on, and every day the Dark Lord grew more displeased that Dumbledore wasn't dead yet, the more I realized the weight of actually becoming a Death Eater," Draco looked back up at her, meeting her eyes again, "To this day, I've never used an Unforgiveable Curse in my life. I don't have the courage to do it, I don't mean it.

"And when I watched Professor Burbage be tortured and killed by him… I never had class or talked to the woman, but she was still someone that I had seen daily and walked past in the corridors… It was just…" He closed his eyes, not knowing if he had any more words left in him; he had already spoken more pure, raw truth in one night to one person than he had in his entire lifetime.

He felt her soft lips near his mark and then again on his cheek, "I don't hate you either, Draco," she whispered.

"But you have every reason to. Everyone in this bloody school has a reason to hate me."

"Yes, and most of the school actually does hate you. I used to, but not so much anymore."

"Why?" He asked with his eyes still closed, speaking only a simple word that only begged for truth.

"When you aren't trying to be such a thickheaded git, you have your moments. When you helped me set up the fireworks last night, there was obviously something wrong with your allegiance or else you wouldn't have helped. And you give me foot massages—anyone who helps my swollen feet can't be that horrible. Besides, we're married until this war ends, and who knows when that will be. As long as we're married, we might as well try to understand each other and get along. Even after the babies are born and the war is over, I won't cut you out of their lives. So we're together for the next 17 years at the least."

He gave a sight chuckle, opening his eyes to look at her and smiled, suddenly realizing how beautiful she was with her brown eyes staring at him and her bold red hair in a mass around her head. He guessed that he had two more true words left in him.

XX

Ginny watched him smile at her when he opened his eyes, throwing her off guard. Was he being like a wolf, smiling before he ate his next victim?

"You're beautiful," he spoke, sending pleasant shivers down her spine has he said it.

Ginny stared at him, not able to formulate a response. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Sex God, had used a word to describe a girl other than 'hot' or 'sexy', to her no less. Was it a ploy for her to have sex with him? But part of her whispered that he was telling the truth like he had been doing the entire night with her.

Draco stopped smiling and turned away from her onto his other side as Ginny was about to kiss him, "Goodnight, Ginny."

She gave an inward sigh, "Goodnight, Draco."

**Sorry it took so long, I started this when my area was getting hammered with snow days and we literally weren't in school for most of January and the first week of February, so I had to get re-adjusted to being in school. I still don't own any of the characters. Thanks for reading like always! I appreciate it!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"…well I think that Zabini is doing a fine job on the Quidditch team this year," Pansy stated, obviously pretending that she knew what she was talking about despite being clueless about Quidditch. Draco knew that she was only saying that for Blaise Zabini to overhear because she was determined to get into his bed now that Draco was taken. He rolled his eyes, hating her swallow thoughts and goals, but not wanting to look or talk to Ginny who had nudged him.

It had been going on for a week like that: whenever Ginny would try to talk to him, he would suddenly become busy such as forgetting a homework assignment in the library, having to talk to any Slytherin that was available, or going on a patrol to look for the missing resistance members that had disappeared.

He had let down his guard to her, told her more than he had told anyone in his life, and she didn't say anything when he told her she was beautiful. She just stared at him with a confused, horrified look on her face while he gave her a rare Malfoy smile, a legendary action that was even more spectacular than the Malfoy smirk. So now he was just going to pretend that she didn't exist.

He nodded along to whatever Pansy was saying about the Quidditch team or some Slytherin boy, ignoring Ginny's second nudge and leaned into Pansy as she talked, guessing that Ginny was growing jealous again that he was talking to a different girl. He managed to hide a satisfied grin at the thought.

There was a sudden crash next to Draco and he turned to see Ginny passed out in her mashed potatoes while his fellow classmates were snickering at her. "She looked pale all throughout dinner mate, I think she was trying to tell you before she fainted," Zabini said from across the table, the only one looking concerned at her.

Draco looked up and glared at anyone who was snickering at her, "At least I have someone in my bed every night. That's more than any of you blokes can say. And I'll hex the next person who sniggers at her." He stood up and levitated her out of the Great Hall and up to the hospital wing, feeling guilty that he had ignored her nudges during dinner.

"What happened to her?" Madame Pomfrey cried when she saw Draco bringing in Ginny, immediately preparing a bed for her.

"I don't know. We were at dinner and suddenly she just fainted," Draco said has he set Ginny down in the bed.

"Did she give any signal that she was going to faint?"

"I…I guess she did. I wasn't paying much attention to her, but she nudged me twice before I heard her hit the table," he said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Madame Pomfrey gave him a disapproving look, "How far along is she?"

"Err… It's February, so around 4 months I think?"

She shook her head at him, examining Ginny, "Has she been taking any vitamins?"

"Err…" Draco couldn't remember her ever saying that she had to take vitamins, or watching her take anything.

"And I'll assume that you know nothing of her family history with pregnancy," Madame Pomfrey asked as she was doing some spells on Ginny.

"That would be correct."

Madame Pomfrey looked up at him, "What do you know of her then?"

He racked his brain for anything relating to Ginny, surprised at how little he actually knew about her other than she was a Weasley. He couldn't even remember what position she played in Quidditch. "That she's carrying a boy and a girl," he finally said, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking down at the marble floor.

"I'll discuss this later with you, Mr. Malfoy. For now, why don't you go back to your dormitory or wait outside while I examine her."

He nodded, going to wait on the bench outside of the hospital wing. He put his face in his hands, trying to remember anything about her at all. By the time Madame Pomfrey came out to tell him news of Ginny, his list of her consisted of the fact that she was good at the Bat Bogey Hex, she was at the Battle of the Ministry, she dated Potter, her hair was red versus the orange hair of the rest of her family, she could have a temper, and she looked good in green. What an excellent husband he was turning out to be… he thought to himself, feeling guilty all over again.

He looked up at Madame Pomfrey when she came out, "She's awake now. She was having another one of her light-headed spells," Another one of her lightheaded spells? He asked himself; unaware that she had those to begin with, "while both of the children started to kick at once, she was simply overwhelmed. I want her to stay here for the night and not go to classes tomorrow. I'll send a note out to the Headmaster explaining the situation. But before you do in to see her, I want a word with you," she said, her voice growing from motherly to strict, "Everyone is well aware of the Malfoy and Weasley feud and that your marriage wasn't either one of yours decision; but regardless, she is your wife. And you need to begin to treat her with more respect and become more knowledgeable about her pregnancy. If you don't, you'll only continue to hurt her and your future children."

Draco nodded, "I understand."

She looked him over carefully, "Go in and see her now, and come back tomorrow morning to bring her back to your dormitory. And don't get her upset."

Draco nodded again, standing up, "Thank you," he went inside the hospital wing again, moving over to her bed.

She watched him come in, looking exhausted and still pale, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," he said, sitting down in the chair next to her.

"I didn't know you cared."

"Of course I care; you're caring my future children, including the Malfoy heir."

"Is that all you bloody care about?"

"No, I was worried about you as well," he said quickly, realizing that he was backing himself up against a wall.

"Really? Because you didn't seem too worried about me when I was trying to get your attention at dinner! You seemed a bit more concerned about your social life than you pregnant wife!" Ginny exploded.

"Please calm down, Ginny. You're not supposed to be getting upset."

"Just go."

"But…"

"Go," she said forcibly, looking like she would hex him with her eyes in a moment.

He sighed, standing up and leaning over her, kissing her forehead gently, "Sleep well, I'll be back in the morning to bring you back to our room."

Ginny just remained silent, giving him a stony glare has he spoke. He nodded awkwardly, "Goodnight then," he said feeling defeated, leaving the hospital wing, determined to learn a little more about her before she gave birth.

XX

Ginny settled down in her and Draco's bed the following morning, ignoring him despite his attempts to ask her how she was feeling and how the babies were. He had ignored her for a week; it was time for him to see how it felt.

"Do you need anything?" He asked, for the fifth time. Ginny didn't respond, just taking the latest issue of _Witch Weekly_ from the nightstand and opening it to the page she left off on. She heard him groan, "If you need anything, ask for help and one of the house elves will come and get you anything you need."

She nodded, turning a page in the magazine, not looking at him.

"I'll see you later…goodbye…" He said, inching to try to get a response out of her.

"Bye," was all she said in response, hearing him turn and leave, closing the door behind him.

X

He kept trying to talk to her when he came back after dinner, but she knew he was only talking to her out of guilty concern for his future heir. She doubted that he would care that much for the girl to begin with when she was finally born. She turned another page in a past issue of _Witch Weekly, _wondering what happened to the Draco who called her beautiful in the past week and then ignored her, caring more about the babies than her. She must have been right, it was all a game to him.

Draco came out of the bathroom, and Ginny made the mistake of looking up, seeing his hair dripping from the shower he must have just gotten out of. She watched him dry his hair with a towel, a few beads of water dripping down his chest.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, yet again.

She stared at his chest for a few more seconds, "Oh, fine," she said, turning pink and looking back down at her magazine. She stared at the words on the page without actually reading them, suddenly conscious of him getting into the bed with her. "Why did you ignore me for a week?" She finally asked, looking up at him, not getting anywhere with her reading

He looked over at her, "Because…" he sighed, "Because I let down my guard with you and you didn't do anything about it."

She raised her eyebrows, looking at him closely, "I was about to, and then you turned away. You threw me off when you said that."

"Oh…"

She nodded, "So you ignored me for a week and when I was desperately trying to get your attention because you shocked me?"

He looked embarrassed, "Err…yes, but I got you to the hospital wing quickly and threatened anyone who was snickering at the mashed potato in your hair," he said quickly, as if that made much a difference.

Ginny shook her head, "You got me to the hospital wing quickly because you were scared you were going to lose your heir."

He sat up, looking at her intently, "No, I was worried about you. And I felt guilty for not paying attention to you. Yes, I was worried about the babies, but I was more worried about you. I haven't met them yet, I'm married to you," he paused, taking her hand away from her magazine, "And while you were in the hospital wing, I realize that I don't know much about you at all. And perhaps I should try to change that."

"You know, Neville asked me to join the others when they left, but I said no because I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep you away from the children when they were finally born. So instead of hiding away from all of this chaos, I figured that we should probably get along and learn more about each other. That's why I listened to you last week. You just threw me off when you said that," she said, looking down at his hand that was holding hers.

"Well I feel stupid now," he muttered.

"Just impatient," she said with a faint smile, looking back up at him, "We both have to get used to this. Luckily we have about 4 months until the babies come."

"4 months? That's so soon..."

"Well how far along did you think I was? Wasn't my large stomach a big enough clue?"

"I wasn't sure how far along you were."

"About 19 weeks, give or take a few days."

"Oh," Draco nodded his head, "Okay."

"I was talking to Madame Pomfrey before I left this morning and she said that she would give us birthing lessons."

"Birthing lessons?" Ginny detected a slight note of horror in his voice as he said that.

"Or, for me I guess. You don't have to be there for the actual birth," she said, looking down at their hands again, realizing that she was being foolish in thinking that he would actually be there for the birth. The Malfoy men were probably the type who waited out in the waiting room drinking a firewhiskey while their wives were in pain.

"No, I'll go, I guess."

Ginny looked up in surprise, "Thanks, Draco." She reached up and kissed him gently, placing her hand on his cheek. "Goodnight, Draco." She gave him a small smile before lying back down.

He looked down at her, "Goodnight, Gin," he leaned down and kissed her forehead. And for the first time, Ginny had some hope in their marriage.

**Thanks for reading! Don't be afraid to review or give suggestions!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Good, good," Madame Pomfrey said, nodding at Ginny, "Let's try the technique again." Ginny repressed a groan before practicing the breathing technique that Madame Pomfrey had showed her; feeling uncomfortable laying down with her legs opened up with Draco standing so close to her. She could only imagine what he was thinking, probably about how ridiculous she looked.

Since she fainted at dinner, Ginny had been going to meet with Madame Pomfrey once a week to discuss pregnancy, how to know when she was in labor, and other childcare necessities like changing a diaper and breastfeeding. Because she was now close to 23 weeks pregnant, Madame Pomfrey wanted to review the actual birthing scenario with Draco—who looked just as uncomfortable as she felt—in the event she went into premature labor.

Madame Pomfrey looked between them after Ginny stopped another round, "Mr. Malfoy," she began chidingly, "to give you a fair warning, during the pregnancy, it's recommended that you hold her hand as she'll need someone for support. And if you haven't already begun too, I'm sure your wife would appreciate a back massage or a foot massage every now and then."

Ginny blushed, Madame Pomfrey believed that he never touched her. She could understand why someone would think that. In public they made small talk at dinner, and only when Draco felt like he needed to protect her from lewd Slytherin stares or comments, he would put his arm loosely around her waist. But that was only in public. When they were alone they would constantly be playing 20 Questions in an attempt to try to learn and understand each other better. Or they would be snogging on the bed while Draco's hands made their way under her shirt.

Ginny looked up at Draco who had regained his smirk, "Don't worry, Madame Pomfrey, I'm not afraid to touch her..," he cast a side look at Ginny then looked back at Madame Pomfrey, "…feet," he finished after a slight pause. Ginny shook her head at him, who was clearly remembering the night before when they stayed up until 1 in the morning.

Madame Pomfrey gave him a stern look, seeming to know exactly what he was referring too, "Then I'd advise you to be careful." Ginny and Draco both nodded. "Alright, I think we'll stop for today, I'll see you next week, Ginny."

"Thanks again Madame Pomfrey," Ginny said, gathering her school bag.  
"Yes, thank you," Draco said after Ginny gave him a hard look.

They left the hospital wing and Ginny gave him a slight shove, "Way to basically tell her."

"Tell her what? All I said was that I didn't have a problem touching your feet," he smirked at her.

"She knows you don't have a problem touching my feet, or any other part of me for that matter!"

"If I recall correctly, you didn't have a problem with me touching any other part of you either," Draco looked her over and rose an eyebrow.

"Oh, shove it," Ginny said with a faint smile, feeling her cheeks flush as she remembered his hands moving over her body the night before.

A 5th year Slytherin prefect was walking down the corridor they were on and Draco took a side step away from Ginny, moving his hands into his pockets. Ginny looked over at Draco who had visibly closed himself off, aware that he didn't want to talk to her anymore. She looked down at the ground and began to walk faster back to their room, leaving Draco behind her.

She heard Draco close the door behind her, "So, is that what we really have to do when you give birth?" It was the first time he spoke to her since the prefect walked past them, and a question that would have been more suitable for right after they walked out of the hospital wing.

Ginny turned around and stared at him, "You avoid me in public. You're embarrassed to be seen with me," she accused, suddenly realizing why they rarely talked in public unless she started the conversation or it was strictly baby related. Whenever it began to move past babies, Draco was always the one to drop the subject.

"W…what…?" Draco stuttered, staring right back at her.

"You're embarrassed to be seen with me!" She said again with more confidence, he voice getting higher.

"N…no I'm not. That's ridiculous, Ginny," he claimed, moving away from her to get ready for bed.

"You're avoiding me now! You're so infuriating! You have no shame in here but outside of this room you move away from me and won't talk to me!" Ginny cried, "I bet when you're alone with your friends you still call me a blood-traitor, you selfish bastard! Is that your grand plan then? Fool around and sleep with me, then brag about it to your friends?"

Draco stared at her, "That's not—"

Ginny cut him off, "I bet you're still seeing Astoria Greengrass too! Probably Pansy when you get bored of Astoria!" Ginny pulled out her wand and pointed it at him, ready to whisper the incantation that would send the Bat Bogey Hex at him.

"Ginny! Calm down!" Draco looked at her wand fearfully and then looked back up at her, "You're getting carried away here."

"No I'm not! This entire…thing," Ginny spat out, not able to use the word 'relationship' to describe the past few weeks, "has been a complete and total lie. You do whatever you want with me here, but it doesn't matter outside of this room!"

Ginny watched Draco walk over to her carefully and pull the wand from her hand, "Ginny, listen to me, our relationship hasn't been a lie. Our marriage might have been a cover up, but what we recently started hasn't been a lie," he was talking calmly and Ginny slowly relaxed.

"You're still ashamed to be with me in public," she said tearfully, suddenly beginning to cry, her sobs getting louder the more she cried and thought about how she had been so wrong about him. She cursed herself, she should have listened to Neville.

She felt Draco's arms wrap around her and pull her into him, she jerked away from him, glaring at him through her tears, "Don't touch me Malfoy! You're an insufferable prat! I hate you and what you did to me!" Ginny smacked his arm weakly, distracted by one of the babies kicking her violently. She placed her hand on her stomach and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked with concern in his voice, moving over to her.

"Don't…talk…to me," Ginny barely got out, feeling one of the twins putting pressure on her lungs, which made it harder for her to breathe. She felt the other twin subside on kicking her and she let out a sigh of relief, looking up at Draco who looked down at her concerned still.

"Was one of them kicking?" He asked with a faint smile on his face that expressed wonder in his future children.

"What, do you take joy in seeing me in pain?" Ginny snapped, not wanting to deal with the goofy look on his face that in a normal situation she might have found cute, "This is your entire fault."

"That you're pregnant? You could have used one of the protection spells as well; it's not my sole responsibility, you could have too."

"Because of you and your damned family, I'm completely cut off from my own family! I have no one except two unborn children that are currently giving me problems!" Ginny cried again.

Draco groaned, "Ginny, you're overreacting."

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME THAT I'M OVER REACTING!" Ginny screamed at him, standing up and glaring at him, her face as red as her hair.

She watched Draco look at her and was thrown off when she suddenly felt his hand tangle in her hair and his soft lips plant on hers. She stood there with his lips on hers for a moment and then gave in, beginning to kiss him back, not caring that he was only kissing her to get her to shut up, he was a good kisser.

He pulled away eventually and looked at her, "Can I talk without you accusing me of anything now please?"

Ginny groaned and sat back down on the bed, "Fine," she muttered, crossing her arms across her chest and staring him down.

"I'm not ashamed of you at all, but I don't want to draw attention to us in front of Carrow or Snape, or anyone who can report us to them," Draco explained calmly.

"And why does it matter if Carrow or Snape see us talking to each other?" Ginny asked.

"They would assume that you're happy with me and our marriage. My father didn't plan arrange this for your happiness," Draco shrugged, "My father can be cruel. Not only that, but they would see that I'm happy with a blood-traitor—which, by the way, I haven't called you that to my friends in awhile—and to be happy with a blood-traitor, according to my father, would make me one. And my father won't have his heir being a blood-traitor. If anything, I'm supposed to show you the right side and the error in your ways," Draco rolled his eyes.

Ginny shook her head at him, "None of that makes any sense to me. My dad would be happy for me as long as I was happy."

"Are you happy?" He asked her, looking at her intently; and Ginny thought she detected a hint of hope buried deep in his gray eyes.

"Sometimes," Ginny replied honestly.

"Oh." Was all Draco said in response and Ginny just shrugged, looking away from him. "Well, do you want a foot massage?" Ginny just nodded.

XX

The following day, Draco had been granted permission to bring Ginny into Hogsmeade with the rest of the students that were approved to go. He looked around the small town that had the fresh spring air and was beginning to show color from all of the flowers that were beginning to bloom. He looked down at the small redhead who's waist he had wrapped his arm loosely around.

He wanted to pull her closer to him so he could hold her. He didn't care what everyone else at Hogwarts thought, but he knew that it would eventually get back to his father. And it wasn't that he cared what his father thought, it was that he was scared of his father's reaction when his father found out that he was being friendly with the enemy.

He remembered what his father had told him when he was getting ready for their wedding: _"You're only marrying her so the children she's carrying won't be bastard children, so you can have an heir. That's her main purpose. Her other purpose is to do whatever else you ask of her and provide you pleasure. But I don't want to hear of that pleasure moving outside of your bedroom. Remember, she's a filthy blood traitor, she's practically scum. She's not worth our family's generosity or our time; we've done more than enough for her. And eventually, after she provides your heir, she'll have an unfortunate accident. So don't get attached."_

Draco had tried to listen to his father. He had done what his father asked, to keep their romance out of the bedroom, except for the one time in front of the Great Hall. He wasn't ruthless like his father; he couldn't force Ginny to sleep with him. Although he wished she was more willing, he could only take so much of her teasing him with her long, red hair and soft, creamy white skin. Since their wedding night, he had only gotten a blowjob from her, and that was only recently. He contained his groan, already feeling his pants tighten at the thought of her underneath him.

But he had stopped seeing Ginny has a blood-traitor scum the moment she told him she was pregnant. He couldn't name the exact moment when he fell in love with the redhead that seemed to be the exact opposite of him, but Draco was sure it was sometime around the moment when he realized that she was beautiful. The same time he realized that he was in love with her he realized that she was also too good for him.

And that was the main reason he held off from pulling her close to him and bending down into her ear to whisper that he loved her. Draco would have faced his father's wrath if he knew that he was worthy of Ginny.

**Thanks for reading everyone! Like usual, I don't own the characters, J.K. Rowling does. Please leave reviews with comments and suggestions – I'm open to all tips. Especially ones with a boy and girl name! Thanks again.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Ginny, stay here," Draco said firmly through gritted teeth while clutching his marked arm tightly.

"Why? What's going on?" Ginny asked with a side glance to his covered Dark Mark, as he tried to block out the pain that was radiating through him until he apparated to the Dark Lord's side.

It was time. It was well known that Potter, Weasley, and Granger were working on killing the Dark Lord and the resistance was only growing stronger despite their efforts. Draco knew that within a matter of hours the warm, calm May evening would turn into a bloodbath. And he wanted Ginny away from the unfolding battle.

"Just stay here," he repeated, moving quickly to grab his wand and slipping a large vial of felix felicis that he had brewed a while ago for this very moment into his pants pocket.

Ginny moved off of the bed and grabbed her wand from the bedside table, "You obviously do not know me at all, Draco Malfoy, if you think I'm just going to stand by when there is a major battle going on a few floors above me."

"You're 6 months pregnant, Ginny!" Draco cried frantically, moving to block the door, "You can't just go fight in a battle and risk the children's well-being!"

"Those are my family and friends out there, Draco!" Ginny pushed past him, moving slowly down the stairs due to her large stomach. Draco groaned and followed her down quickly and grabbed her hand, turning her around towards him.

He looked into her brown eyes, wanting to memorize every flicker of gold and brown, "I'm sorry, about everything that has happened to you because of me and my bloody family. I'm sorry I got you pregnant, that my father created an arranged marriage for us while I sat by at let him do it. I'm sorry for ever calling you a blood-traitor and—" He suddenly was cut off by Ginny's lips that were giving him the most passionate kiss he had ever received from her. He put his arm around her waist, pushing her against him as far as her stomach would allow them.

She pulled away, "I lo—" she started before changing her mind, "We're not going to die, Draco. But I'm not going to be fighting for your side, even if my last name is now Malfoy." She gave a grim smile and turned on her heel, leaving the Slytherin common room before he could ask her what she was originally going to say or before he told her that he loved her. He watched her leave, praying it wasn't going to be the last time he saw her.

If I ever see her again, he swore to himself, I swear I'll change no matter who wins the battle.

X

Draco was staring down at his aunt who had her eyes wide open as if in shock and was still lying down on her back from being hit with the Killing Curse that came from none other than his mother-in-law. He bent down and closed her eyes, not wanting to look into the emptiness any longer. Although his aunt was eccentric, and arguably insane, he felt a strange amount of fondness to her after she taught him how to use nonverbal spells. Besides, she was family—even in his deficient family that counted for something, usually.

The battle had been over for about two hours now, finishing after Potter and the Dark Lord's final battle. He had watched the Dark Lord get hit with his own Killing Curse, and instead of grief, a wave of relief washed over his body. He walked back over to his parents who were sitting down quietly against a wall in the Great Hall where all of the Death Eaters were sitting, all too shocked to do anything else but sit. Their moral had been crushed. His hand wrapped around the empty vial in his pocket and he knew that if it weren't for taking felix felicis before the battle, he wouldn't be standing right now.

Draco watched a tall, dark man walk over to the small Malfoy family, recognizing him has Kingsley Shacklebolt, "Draco, I'd like you to come with me," he said shortly with an air of command.

Draco looked back at his parents, watching his father about to protest, but his mother put her hand gently on his arm to stop him. Draco nodded at his parents before following Shacklebolt out of the destroyed Great Hall. "Is Ginny alright?" He blurted out through mustered courage as soon as they were out of the Great Hall. He felt numb and cursed himself for not have given Ginny the potion he had coveted like a greedy child. All he received in return was a curt nod, but it was enough for him for the time being.

Shacklebolt lead him up to the second floor to a classroom and held up a hand before Draco could go inside. He looked down at the floor as Shacklebolt went in, staying in his spot and catching sounds of sobbing from the room. Shacklebolt came out of the room, closing the door back behind him, "You're in their hands. Don't do anything that would make your sentence worse." Draco could only nod and Shacklebolt left him standing outside of the room. He was just about to push open the door when Weasley came out of the room, red to the point of purple, his hands clenched tightly into fists so that his knuckles were turning white.

"Err, hello," Draco said, feeling awkward.

"HELLO?" Weasley began to scream at him, "HELLO? THAT'S ALL YOU SAY? YOU BASTARD! WE SAVED YOUR LIFE TWO TIMES TODAY AND YOU…WITH GINNY…AND ALL YOU SAY IS HELLO?"

Draco flinched at the screaming, apparently he knew about the marriage now, "May I see my wife now? Since I assume that's why I was brought here," he said coldly, not in the mood to be yelled at, he had seen someone close to him die too that day.

"NO YOU MAY NOT BLOODY SEE MY SISTER YOU—" He kept screaming, only to be cut off by Granger who had come out of the room.

"Ron, calm down," she placed her hand on his arm and amazingly Weasley quieted.

"But he…"

"I know," Granger began, "But Ginny and your parents both want to see him. You and Harry can hex him later."

Draco rolled his eyes, "Lovely idea. May I see my wife now?"

Granger pulled Weasley away from blocking the door and he nodded at them, walking into the old classroom. He was immediately surprised and nervous to see all Weasley's and Potter in the same room surrounded by the matriarch who was clutching onto her husband. He had never seen so much red hair at the same time in his entire life. All of them had red, puffy eyes and Ginny still had silent tears streaming down her face as she clutched onto one of her brothers.

They turned to look at him, wiping their eyes quickly; the men's faces turning stony as they looked at him. Draco counted the numbers quickly, realizing that one was missing. After a second look, he realized it was one of the twins that were miscounted for. "Err, hello. Shacklebolt brought me here; I can leave if you want me too…"

"That would be a great idea," muttered Potter's lackey from behind him, and it was clear that nearly everyone else in the room was thinking the same thing.

Ginny let go of her brother and walked over to him, burying her face in his chest and wrapping her arms around him, "Fred…" Was all she could manage to say before beginning to cry again; so that was the twin that died. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, not knowing what to say because 'I'm sorry' didn't seem quite right, sometimes silence was enough.

"You weren't brought here at the best time," began Mr. Weasley, who was watching him carefully, "But we made an arrangement with Kingsley for you to stay with us until your hearing."

Draco nodded, still holding onto Ginny, "Uh, thanks." It wasn't his first choice, but it would be better than staying with his parents in Azkaban undoubtedly.

"We should go," said the red head with glasses, Draco briefly recognized him as the former Head Boy who worked in the Ministry, Peter or something.

Mr. Weasley nodded, "We should still be able to apparate from here. We'll meet back at the Burrow. Bill, help George. Charlie, take… Percy, take Draco and Harry take Ginny. Come on, Molly," he said, calmly issuing out orders.

Draco let go of Ginny, glaring at Potter who walked over to them. "I'll take her from here, Malfoy," Potter said, taking Ginny's hand and giving him a hard look. Draco shrugged, not wanting Potter anywhere near her but having little choice. The one called Percy went over to him and offered his arm, which Draco held onto, feeling childish that he had to use side-along apparition, and was then whisked away.

XX

"But why Ginny? I can't wrap my mind around you with…Malfoy," Harry managed to spit out, looking extremely upset from beside her. Harry had apparated Ginny and himself down the road from the Burrow, so he could question her.

She sighed, rubbing her still red eyes, "Can we talk about this later, Harry? So much has gone on within the past few hours."

"But he's going to be under your roof for who knows how long!" Ginny shook her head and started to walk faster up the road, causing Harry to run up after her. "I just don't understand."

"I'll explain later, Harry. Right now I just want to get up to the Burrow to be with my family that I haven't seen since September and rest."

"Well I haven't seen them since August!"

"They're not your family!" She snapped, growing frustrated of him hounding her with questions.

She felt Harry's eyes on her back and stopped hearing Harry's feet run after her, "They would have been if you hadn't gone off with Malfoy," he said quietly. She could hear the hurt in his voice and she knew that once she had a good amount of rest, she would regret it.

"We'll talk later," she simply said to end their conversation, walking up to the Burrow without another word from Harry.

X

As soon as her mum got back into the Burrow, she began cooking. Chicken, turkey, eggs, potatoes, anything that was in the house was being sacrificed to the stove and oven. "Tea anyone? Charlie, put some more on your plate. Harry, are you sure you have enough?" She would ask over and over, constantly filling up someone's un-expecting plate. Everyone complied with her, forcing food down their throats and having multiple cups of tea, not wanting to upset her any further.

Ginny walked over to where Draco was standing off in the corner of the kitchen, away from everyone after talking to Fleur and Bill. "Are you sure you have enough on your plate?" Ginny asked with a slight smirk.

She watched his mouth turn up into a slight smile, "Your mother is making sure that I do," he replied.

Ginny nodded, turning to glance at her mum who was checking on a batch of brownies, "That's my mum for you." She looked back up at him, "My dad said that you've been sending weekly letters since mid-February to them."

He nodded, "Yes, well I didn't want them to worry about you and my owl was able to go undetected."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Err, well honestly, I was worried you would get even more emotional because of the pregnancy and I wasn't sure I could handle that every week," he gave a weak smile.

Ginny shook her head, "You're a git sometimes. But thank you for at least sending them something." She smiled at him, moving closer to him and letting his arm drape around her waist. She was amazed at how much he had grown since they had gotten married, she thought as she rested her head on his shoulder, she had yet to hear a snide comment about anyone in her family or Harry and Hermione, or the Burrow.

"Have you sat down since you got here?"

"A little bit," she replied.

"You should go lay down. I'm sure it's been awhile since you really rested and you've been running around everywhere," he said gently.

"Yes, I suppose…"

"You need to rest," he repeated, kissing the top of her head.

Ginny blushed, hoping that no one in her family saw him kiss her, even if it was just her head. She pulled away from him, not wanting to start a civil war within her own house over Draco, especially not with… Not with everything that had happened.

She nodded, "I'll see you in the morning then," she gave a small smile and left him, carefully walking up the narrow staircase to her still pink bedroom. She smiled at the familiar room, stepping over the small mattress that had been laid out for Hermione and got into her bed, not bothering to take off her robes or shoes. She was asleep within minutes.

XX

Draco stayed in the corner after Ginny went to bed, not wanting to get in anyone's way when they certainly wouldn't have hesitated to kill a Death Eater, especially not the holy trio, he thought bitterly. All of them avoided him anyways; even Mrs. Weasley filled his plate up less often than the others. He watched Mr. Weasley approach him as people slowly left the cramped living room and filled upstairs. "Like I said, you didn't catch us on a good night for us. I brought down some blankets and a pillow for you; you'll be sleeping on the couch."

"The couch…?" He asked stupidly, hardly believing that they would actually put someone on a couch.

"And there are wards for if you leave the living room," Mr. Weasley said sternly, with a warning look in his eye, "Good night." With a final nod, Mr. Weasley left the kitchen, heading up to his own room and Draco grudgingly walked into the living room, staring down at the faded, worn couch with a repulsive look. At the very least it was 25 years old. All old furniture at the manor, old being anything after 10 years, was retired to the west wing where it was put in storage. Once it was 100 years old, it was brought out and decoratively put in one of the parlors.

He laid down on the couch, feeling the springs dig into his back and he groaned, pulling a blanket over him. "You're lucky I love you, Ginny," he muttered out loud, switching to a different position, "Or else I'd probably rather be in Azkaban with the rest of the Death Eaters than on this couch." He closed his eyes, willing himself into a nightmare-filled sleep.

**Thanks for reading everyone!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It had been four days since the war had ended, and two days since Fred's funeral. George was back living in the Burrow, not wanting to live in the same flat he shared with Fred that was above the shop they had owned together. Bill, Charlie, and Percy had all hesitantly left back to their own homes and Harry and Hermione were of course welcome to stay as long as they wanted too.

Ginny had been playing a game of cat-and-mouse with both Harry and Draco, not wanting to be alone with either of them for longer than a minute. She didn't want to get involved in the Malfoy-Potter/Weasley feud that pre-dated her Hogwarts years. Luckily for her, Draco was letting her win the game, isolating himself to the corner of the living room with a book and staying out of everyone's way.

However, Harry was determined for her to lose it. During the funeral he had made a point to sit next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, while Draco was left to sit off in the back. Often times when she was in her room he would knock on her door in an effort to talk to her, to which she just pretended that she was sleeping.

But she was getting lonely. George had locked himself in his room and her parents kept exchanging odd looks whenever she was around. Ron wasn't speaking to her and Hermione was constantly with Ron now or giving her judgmental looks.

Ginny walked past the living room, noticing Draco reading a book in the corner. She looked closely at him, noticing that his face had become shallower, despite the heavy amounts of food her mum piled on his plate. Even from across the room she could tell that his eyes were beginning to losing the spark they held while at Hogwarts, and she suddenly realized that he was probably even lonelier than her here.

She waddled over to him, "You've been awfully quiet here," she said, sitting down next to him.

He looked up at her, setting his book down, "So have you. Do you want to talk about it or anything…?" He asked awkwardly. Ginny almost smiled, he could be a smooth talker, but only if it involved clothes coming off.

Ginny shook her head, staring down at the floor, "No, it's fine."

"I'm here if you need someone."

Ginny nodded, blinking back some tears and looked up at him, "Thanks, Draco," she said, resting her head on his chest.

"How are the babies doing?" Draco asked, resting a hand gently on her stomach and putting the other arm around her shoulders.

Ginny placed her hand on top of his, "They're fine, just doing a lot of kicking. And they're getting heavier so my feet and back are constantly hurting. But there's only two more months left."

"Two months?" Draco asked in a horrified amazement.

"Two months," she repeated happily.

There was a long pause, "Ginny, I think that you should know that I'm not…I'm not going to be a good father," Draco said finally, "The only example I've ever had was my own father, and I think we both know how that turned out."

"I'm scared too," Ginny said softly, "We're both going to screw up eventually with them. But I don't think you're going to be a bad father. "

"I won't blame you if you don't want me involved," Draco began again, but Ginny looked up at him and kissed him before he could go on.

She pulled away, "Shut up, Malfoy," she said with a smile, before going in to kiss him again. His tongue met hers eagerly, his fingers tangled in with her hair and his other hand rested on the small of her back. She ran her fingers through his hair, glad that gel was something that he didn't have with him anymore. He looked better without it slicked back.

"GET OFF HER!"

Ginny pulled away, looking up at Harry whose hair was sticking up in every direction, his eyes flashing and his hands turned into fists.

"She's my wife, Potter," Draco said coldly, "I'll kiss her if I want too."

"It was an arranged marriage. It won't be long until there is a divorce," Harry said cruelly.

"There won't be a divorce, Harry," Ginny said quietly. "Draco's going to be the father of my children and I want him to be there for them."

Harry stared at her dumbfounded, "He's a Death Eater though."

"I know."

"He's going to utterly corrupt the kids. They'll be muggle-hating, snobs just like him!" Harry cried, waving his hands at Draco.

"And do you really think that I'm going to let him do that too them?" Ginny asked, glaring at Harry. "Do you really think that my parents will that that happen?"

"He's going to have his hearing soon and he'll be sent off to Azkaban; he won't be there for his children then!"

"He's right," Draco muttered quietly in her ear and Ginny felt a piece of her heart break and her eyes suddenly felt heavy with tears.

"Then who's going to be a father figure to them? You can't keep pushing away those who love you Ginny and want to help you like you've been doing."

Ginny stood up, using the couch as support to get up and left the living room. As soon as she had left the room tears began to flow freely.

XX

"You shouldn't upset her like that," Draco said in a quiet voice that had just enough power to demand respect—a trick he had learned from his father. "She's carrying twins; she doesn't need any more stress from us."

"I'm not giving her stress, Malfoy! You are. She's too good of a person to send you to Azkaban on your arse like you deserve."

"Trust me, I know that better than you think," Draco said, getting up and walking out of the room. He walked out of the Burrow, walking down the path to the garage where he had overheard was Mr. Weasley's favorite spot in the house…er, outside of the house.

He straightened himself up and knocked on the door. "Come in!" Came from the little shack. Draco attempted to slick back his hair, briefly cursing that he didn't get to bring his with him.

He opened the door and walked in, "Hello, Mr. Weasley." Mr. Weasley turned around from his table where he was holding some clear pitcher and a bottom that had a connecting cord. Draco gave a confused glance down at the dirty muggle object and then looked back up at him.

"Ah, hello Draco. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, I figured that I might as well get the Talk from you. I figured I avoided it well enough the past week."

Mr. Weasley sighed, taking a moment to think, "There's not much left to say. I can't tell you not to hurt her; it's too late for that. I can't threaten you with a curse or hex if you touched her, you already got her pregnant." Mr. Weasley said sadly, picking up a rag and wiping down the foreign object he held in his hand. "She's my only daughter and the youngest—but she's also one of the strongest. From what Molly and I have been able to tell, she managed alright during the…marriage. But, that will be all be over soon enough."

Draco swallowed, "That's actually something that I wanted to talk to you about, sir. I love Ginny." Mr. Weasley looked up at him and Draco kept going, "Somehow, I fell in love with her. And I know that I'm not your first or best candidate to marry her, and Merlin knows that she could do better than me, but I love her. And if she agrees, I'd like your permission to, well, stay married to her."

"And is this some plan for you to stay out of Azkaban?"

Draco subconsciously rubbed his arm that had the Dark Mark on it, "No. I've done what I've done, no matter how much I didn't want to do it and I'll accept that; but it doesn't change the fact that I want to stay with her. And maybe she'll wait for me."

Mr. Weasley nodded, going back to cleaning off his muggle toy, "If Ginny loves you and wants to stay with you, then you have my blessing."

"Thank you, sir."

Mr. Weasley nodded and Draco left the garage and headed back up to the Burrow, wondering when he should ask her, and how long he had left before Ron or Potter tried to kill him.

XX

"I don't understand, Ginny…" Hermione began, sitting down next to Ginny on her bed, "How did this all happen?"

"One night, I was planting one of George and…one of their fireworks. Neville and I would plant some to go off, it was just enough to piss off the Carrows. And he caught me, and we started kissing somehow… The more we kissed, the more it made me feel safe, and I didn't want to lose that feeling, it was so rare," Ginny said, looking down at her blanket and playing with one of the stray strings, "One thing led to another, neither of us used a protection charm and now I'm fat," Ginny said, suddenly hating how fat she felt. She couldn't see her toes anymore over her baby bump. It wasn't even a bump, it was a mountain.

"What about Harry?"

"I love him, but I think the part that loves him is the childish part of me. I chased after him for 5 years before he finally noticed me. I had to grow up, Hermione. That part of me loves Draco."

"You love Malfoy?"

"Yes."

"Of all the people…"

"He's different," Ginny said, giving a faint smile, "I've seen the sensitive side of him that he keeps hidden, even from himself. Maybe being a father will make others notice his change more."

"Maybe or maybe he'll be just like his own father," Hermione quietly, repeating what Harry had said earlier in the day.

Ginny sighed, "Everyone doubts him… Maybe he just needs a second chance."

Hermione just nodded, "Ron's pissed… Only certain things can make him calm down anymore," Hermione said, blushing a bit.

Ginny looked up and smirked, "Good thing you're around then." She pointed down at her stomach, "Just let this be a fair warning."

There was knock on Ginny's door, Ginny groaned, hoping that it wasn't Harry. He had already upset her once that day and she hated crying, it was all she had been doing recently. "Can you see who it is?" She asked Hermione who got up and opened the door, and then closed it.

"It's Malfoy…"

Ginny raised her eyebrows at Hermione, "I know a Malfoy is nearby, I'm here after all," she said, reminding Hermione that she was legally a Malfoy.

Hermione turned red, "You know what I mean."

Draco knocked on the door again and Hermione opened it to show Draco standing there, looking a little peeved that he wasn't allowed directly in. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, watching his movements carefully.

"Hello Ginny, m...Gra…Hermione," Draco said, changing his mind on what to call her several times and moved in a little bit further into the room.

"Hello," Hermione said, a little surprised that he used her actual name.

"Hello," Ginny said, turning to face Hermione and giving her a small nod saying that it was okay for her to leave the room.

"I'll let you two talk…" Hermione said, looking away from Ginny to look at Draco, who just nodded at her.

"Hello," Draco repeated when she had left, his hands in his pockets—a nervous habit that he had that Ginny had begun to notice.

"Hello."

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Draco began and Ginny nodded for him to continue, "I love you, Ginny. Somehow, I fell in love with you. And perhaps Potter would be a better choice for you, but I'd like to stay married to you, if you're willing to wait for me to get out of Azkaban."

"I love you too." Sometimes three words answered everything.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"DINNER!" Ginny heard her mum call from the bottom of the stairs, bringing her out of her nap. She lifted her head up from Draco's chest and gave a small smile.

"So do you want to tell them now or later?"

"Are they more prone to kill me now or later?"

"Probably about the same… Although the sooner we tell them, then you might get to move off the couch."

"That right there is a selling point. Your family really needs a new couch, love. It's painful to sleep on."

Ginny sat up and gave him a slight shove, "That couch is older than you, didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders?"

Draco just rolled his eyes and got off her bed, going around and helping her up. They made their way downstairs slowly, Draco terrified that she would fall down the narrow, steep stairs; briefly thinking that it was probably a good idea that his parents made her come to the manor for the Christmas holidays or else she might have thrown herself down the stairs.

Everyone watched the two of them enter the kitchen together and sit down at the table. Ginny stared around at her brothers, parents, Harry and Hermione, "What? Haven't you ever seen a married couple walk into dinner together?" She asked, sitting down and raising her eyebrows to dare anyone to say anything otherwise.

"Very elegant…" Draco muttered beside her. Ginny just shrugged and grabbed a roll from a basket, ignoring the silent stares from the dinner table.

"So, married couple?" Her mum began uncomfortably and glanced over at her husband.

Ginny nodded, watching Ron's hands transform into fists. Her mum noticed too and slapped a piece of turkey onto his plate, "Eat, Ron. You too, Harry."

"Uh, yes," Draco began, looking up at his mother-in-law, "I love Ginny and we've talked and we want to stay married."

Mrs. Weasley looked desperately over at her husband. "Draco came to me earlier today and asked for my blessing," Mr. Weasley explained, "which I gave if Ginny felt the same way," he said looking over at Ron who was turning red.

Mrs. Weasley nodded, "Put some more food on your plate Ron, Harry."

"I can't. Ginny's eating all of it because her bloody Death Eater 'husband' got her pregnant!" Ron cried out, standing up from his chair and glaring at Draco.

Ginny looked up from buttering her roll to look at her brother, feeling the tears start to well up in her eyes for the second time that day. "Ronald Weasley!" Her mother yelled, giving him a stern look.

Ginny glanced to her left where Draco was sitting silently, looking down at his hands. She shook her head disgustedly; he wouldn't even stand up for her against her brother whom he had mocked for years. She stood up and walked out of the room as quickly as she could, over hearing her father say "Outside, Ron. We need to talk," as she left.

Ron left the room, refusing to look at Draco while Pott…Harry and Hermione stared at their plates awkwardly. Across the table George shook his head at Draco, "You're in for it now."

"Sorry?" Draco asked, looking up at George. It was the first time since he had gotten to the Burrow that he had heard him speak.

"Ginny's going to kill you. You think we're all bad, wait until she gets her hands on you…" George said, trailing off as he shoved some food into his mouth.

"Not all tough now, Malfoy?" Draco heard Potter mutter, escaping the ears of Mrs. Weasley.

Draco shrugged and took a sip of the water in front of him, beginning to grow worried about Ginny, but didn't want to deal with her in an emotional state. He couldn't even handle Pansy when it was her time of the month.

"Hermione," began Mrs. Weasley, to break the silence, "Would you like to move your room to Percy's old room? Arthur and I have cleaned it up since, so it's ready for someone to live in."

"I don't want to cause any trouble for you Mrs. Weasley. I'm hoping to find a job soon and then I'll be able to get my own flat."

"It's never a trouble at all, dear. Stay as long as you need…with your family and all…"

Draco observed the conversation, hoping this meant that he got off the couch. "Mrs. Weasley, is it alright if I go check on Ginny?"

"Oh, yes. I suppose. You didn't eat much."

"I'm just worried about Ginny," Draco said, standing up and shooting a look at Potter. Who equally returned the glare.

"Good luck, mate," said George who was wearing a slight smirk.

XX

"You think I'm thrilled about this Ron?" asked Mr. Weasley, his voice constricted by pain, "I hate this more than you. She is the only daughter I have, she's still my little girl—and she's already married with two on the way. But this is the way it is. I would love to have Harry as a son-in-law, but if this is what she wants…" Mr. Weasley sighed, "Then this is what is going to have to be. Like with all of my children, I just want to see each one happy. Like how you are with Hermione. But Draco will have his hearing soon and might be sent to Azkaban; and maybe then she and Harry will reconnect, but until then we have to support Ginny. And most importantly, not upset her," he gave Ron a stern look. "Believe me; I went through dealing with your mother in pregnancy six times. Do not upset Ginny."

Ron nodded, still pissed off, "Okay."

"And in the chance that their marriage does last, I suggest that you learn to get along with Draco better. I'm not saying to be friends with him, just let the past be the past."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Yeah, okay."

XX

Draco walked into Ginny's room, looking at Ginny curled up into a ball as best as she could, still crying, "Hey…" He said, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

Ginny looked up at him, "Hey? That's what you say to me after you let Ron say those comments about me!"

So George was right…

"I…"

"Well I see why you weren't placed in Gryffindor, you git! You let everyone walk all over you. You didn't even stand up for me and I'm your wife! The person you claim you want to be with for the rest of your life because you love me and crap!"

Draco stared at her, feeling insulted and as if she had attacked his manhood, and concerned about the part where he would spend the rest of his life with her. "What was I supposed to do? They have a lot of power over me, since the 'holy trio' lives here."

"Don't give me that dragon crap, Draco Malfoy! Be a bloody man and stand up for me. I'm feeling fat and alone, and right now I'm bloody hungry," Ginny said, whining a bit.

"I'll go get you some food from downstairs, I'm sure your mother saved you some…"

"No, I want a cheeseburger."

"Pardon?"

"A cheeseburger, it's a muggle food."

"You want muggle food? But...why?"

"I just bloody want it!" Ginny cried, growing more frustrated with him, "Just go out and get me one."

"But what if the muggle food harms the children?" Ginny's glare was so strong that Draco stood up from the bed, "Er, where do I get one?"

"There's a diner in the muggle town down the road, about 4 kilometers away," Ginny muttered as she laid back down, her back facing him.

"I'll be right back," Draco said quickly, appparting outside of the diner Ginny mentioned and confounding the muggle worker there to get the two cheeseburgers and something called fries for free. He apparated back to Ginny's room holding a paper bag, revolted by the smell and grease coming from the bag. "Two cheeseburgers and large fries," he said, handing her the bag proudly—glad to have done something, hopefully, right.

Ginny looked at him surprised, but took the bag and grabbed a cheeseburger. Draco watched her eat it with her hands, growing repulsed by the speed and messiness of which she ate her cheeseburger. He vowed he would teach his children manners, and how to use a fork and knife. They would be Malfoys after all. They also shouldn't eat much of the muggle food, he thought. Who knew if Ginny eating muggle food could affect the children, if one of them were a squib… Draco sighed, deciding to cross that bridge if they wandered upon it. Ginny was momentarily happy, and that was all that mattered at that moment.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The following morning Draco and Ginny were down in the kitchen for breakfast; Ginny's family attempted to ignore the fact that Draco had spent the night in her room. An owl's beak knocked on the window and Mrs. Weasley opened it up, letting the brown barn owl inside. The owl flew to Draco and dropped a letter in his lap, then flew away.

The letter unfolded itself, "Dear Mr. Malfoy," it began to read out loud, "The ministry has detected your wand to have used a Confounding Spell. This is in direct violation of your temporary parole. You are scheduled for a hearing at 12 o'clock today."

Draco could feel his stomach sink and twist into horrible knots. He stared down at the letter that had dropped its self onto the table right in front of him. He could feel the judgmental stares coming from the Weasley's, especially Ron and Potter's satisfied smirk to each other.

Ginny looked over at him and raised her eyebrows, "When did you use a Confounding Spell?"

"When I got your cheeseburger last night…I didn't have muggle money," he responded quietly, trying to sound indifferent on the matter. He looked up and glanced down at his watch, 10 o'clock, he had two hours.

Ginny groaned, "Didn't anyone tell you that you weren't supposed to use magic until after you received your sentence?"

"No. That was conveniently left out," Draco said, avoiding eye contact with anyone, trying to keep his voice from making accusations; although he was sure someone had known, Potter spent more than a few hours at the Ministry and yet still had seen him every night.

"Let's go get ready then," Ginny said, taking another bite of her toast before standing up.

"You're not going down there, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said, quickly intervening and avoiding looking at Draco. "There's too many…it's just not a good place to be right now." Draco noticed how she had avoided saying 'Death Eaters' and suppressed an eye roll. There was more to some of the Death Eaters than what met the eye. Most of them were cowardly fools who were just power hungry. Draco conveniently avoided thinking himself to be one of those cowards.

"But why can't I go?"

"Because you're not 17 yet and you still have to listen to me!" Mrs. Weasley said, panic evident in her voice as she used the worst card a parent could pull on their child.

"But Mum…"

"End of story. Dear," Mrs. Weasley said, trying to calm back down, "Now go sit back down and eat some more breakfast." Ginny shook her head but sat back down. Draco took that as his leave and left the kitchen awkwardly, making his way up the stairs.

"Well, why didn't anyone tell him?" Ginny asked, as soon as she was sure he couldn't hear their conversation. She looked around the room where Harry and Ron were avoiding her stareand her mum had her back turned to her. She guessed that Hermione and her dad were both already at the ministry.

"Look at the time, better get into the Auror department mate," Ron said, quickly getting up.

"Ron!" Ginny cried, growing frustrated.

George sighed, "Ginny, you know we don't like the git."

"So you're trying to put him in Azkaban?"

"No, just merely leaving out information which could have been taken as common sense in the hope that he would only land himself there earlier."

"Have any of you given a thought about my feelings on this? Or have you thought that perhaps the twins would be better growing up with both of their parents around? Not having a father locked up their entire lives? Shove off, all of you," Ginny said, standing up again and heading up the stairs to her room.

XX

"Draco Malfoy, your wand is 10 inches, hawthorn wood with a unicorn core, is that correct?" Prime Minister Kingsley asked from his chair.

Draco suppressed squirming from the gazes of everyone staring at him, "Yes."

"And would you tell us the events of last evening around 8 o'clock P.M?"

"My wife was craving some muggle food called a cheeseburger, so I went to get it before getting in any more trouble with her. When it came time to pay, I didn't have any muggle money, let alone wizarding money with me so I used a Confounding Spell to avoid paying for it," Draco said, trying to sound calm. A few people in the court chuckled.

"And were you aware that you weren't allowed to use magic?"

"No, sir."

"Are you aware, in general, that stealing is considered wrong?"

"Of course, but it wasn't from a wizarding store, and the muggle economy doesn't affect me much. It was just to satisfy some of my pregnant wife's cravings." Draco nodded at some of the older members around the room, hoping they would understand.

Kingsley nodded, going through some papers from his stand, "While you're here, I figured we might as well get your trial over with." Draco gave a curt nod, adjusting his head so it still held high in the typical Malfoy manner. "Draco Malfoy you are charged for the attempted murder of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, assistance in the torture of the Parkins family, and being a follower of Lord Voldemort," Draco winced at the name, "How do you plead?"

Draco swallowed, "Mostly guilty."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

Draco nodded, "I'm branded a Death Eater, yes. It was something that was bore into my mind that was good for as long as I can remember. To my family, in the way that I was raised, it was an honor. It didn't take long for me to see through the façade. I'd like to remind you that I didn't actually kill Professor Dumbledore—I think everyone knows how I wasn't brave enough to do so. And I never performed any of the Unforgiveable Curses to the Parkins family, or to anyone else."

"But you did participate in the torture of them."

Draco gave a slight nod, sitting very still, remembering the October night he was called by the Dark Lord. It was one of his biggest regrets, and every once and awhile, the memory of the girl crept back into his mind, no matter how hard he tried to banish the thoughts of what he did to her.

"I'd like to speak," said a voice coming from the back. Draco suppressed a groan, recognizing Potter's voice as many of the members of the court and those who came to watch the trials began to talk amongst themselves about their hero.

Kingsley looked over Draco's head towards Potter undoubtedly, "Harry…" came the doubtful voice of Kingsley. Draco felt a surge of hope that Kingsley wouldn't let Potter speak, knowing that his jealously would affect what he would say. Kingsley sighed and nodded, a pair of guards came and took Draco from his chair in the center of the courtroom and Potter walked into the circle, facing the court.

"I've known Draco for seven years now, nearly eight. And to keep it short, we never got along. However, perhaps there's hope for him. That day in January when Hermione, Ron, and I were caught and taken to Malfoy Manor, he stalled when asked to recognize me; but I'm sure he knew who I was. At the Battle of Hogwarts not a few weeks ago, he saved my life, telling Vincent Crabbe not to kill me or Ron and Hermione," Harry said, not looking at Draco who watched him carefully. Harry nodded his head at the 'thank you' he received and left without another word or look in Draco's direction. Draco rubbed his eyes, knowing exactly what Ginny saw in Potter.

The guards once again placed Draco on the chair in the center.

"Would you care to respond Mr. Malfoy?"

"Whether I like it or not, my wife loved him, probably still does. I may have been a Death Eater, but I love her. And I've never wanted to do something that would make her upset. I vowed before the Battle that I would change for her and our unborn children, and this is my chance," Draco said, realizing that he was probably close to over playing the 'wife and children' card, but they were the reason he didn't want to go to Azkaban.

"With that being said, all of those in favor for Mr. Malfoy to serve time in Azkaban…" Draco looked around, counting 9 hands going up. "All of those in favor for Mr. Malfoy to return to his new family…" Draco's heart soared as he counted 13 hands and Kingsley was left to say, "Mr. Malfoy, you may go with your wand."

Draco smiled, getting up from the chair and nodded at the court with his rare smile, "Thank you." He turned around and left, leaving the doors of the courtroom a free man, his wand rights in full affect.

XX

There was a knock on Ginny's door, "Draco?" she asked, wanting to pace around the room but both twins kicking at once forced her to have to lay down on her bed, waiting around for Draco.

The door opened, showing Harry in the doorway, looking nervous like how he used to look before they had started to date whenever he was around her. Ginny forced a weak smile, still angry at him for not warning Draco, and upset that he wasn't the face she hoped to see—and if Harry was there, maybe he only had bad news. "Hey, Harry… Come in."

Harry nodded and came out of the doorway, but still only a few steps into her room. Ginny sat up and looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

Harry let out a frustrated sigh, clearly trying to figure out the right words, "They're going to let him go," he said finally, looking at her with pained, green eyes.

"Going to? Why haven't they already?"

"It's still going on. I gave a short testimony and then came back," Harry said, looking at Ginny whose eyes were flashing, "I supported him," he said defensively to answer her accusing eyes.

"You told the court to let him be free?" Ginny asked, her eyes softening, answered by Harry's nodding head. "I don't understand."

Ginny watched Harry move closer into her room, pausing a bit, "Gin…I love you, and I've only ever wanted to make you happy," Harry shrugged, looking away from her, "I didn't do it for him, I did it for you. It's understandable that you want a family, complete with the mother and father," Harry looked back up at her, his eyes tinged with tears, "I just wish I had the chance so it could have been me."

Ginny stared at him, a silence filling the room. Harry cleared his throat, "Well, I'll see you later—I need to go back to the Ministry." He quickly turned around and left without another word.

Ginny watched him leave her room, staring at the place he had stood long after he left.

XX

Draco ran up the narrow staircase, his feet pounding loudly with every step he made. He walked into Ginny's room, finding her curled up with a book. He smiled and went over to her, pulling the book away from her hands and kissing her.

"Hello, love," he said as soon as she pulled away and looked up at him. "All of my charges have been cleared and my money has been restored."

Ginny looked up at him, looking at him, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere—probably thinking about whatever book she was reading, "I heard, Harry told me. Congratulations," Ginny said, giving a smile that didn't fully reach her eyes.

Draco just smiled, not worrying about Potter talking to his wife, she was his now. He reached down and kissed her again, "I think that this should call for a celebration…" He said, giving a sly smile, placing his hands on either side of her and leaning in so she had to lean back on the bed. He moved over her, having to hold himself up above her taunt stomach and began to kiss her, deepening it slowly.

He felt his pants tighten around his growing member and let out a low groan. It had been weeks since he had gotten anything pleasurable from Ginny or any girl for that matter. Once she caught him with Astoria he had respectfully ended his relationship with her; but that didn't mean that Ginny had given him anything, no matter how many nights they had spent together in bed.

His hand reached under her shirt to her back and unhooked her bra. He moved away from her and quickly unbuttoned his own shirt, ripping off a few buttons in the process, and throwing it down on the floor next to her bed.

"Draco…" Ginny said quietly, looking up at him, but Draco ignored her, moving back over her and taking off her shirt, kissing along her neckline has he pulled off her shirt and bra— and letting them join his shirt on the floor.

"Draco…" Ginny repeated a little louder and tried to move away from him.

"Hm?" Draco murmured distractedly, finding her body regardless and kissing whatever skin he could find. He slid his hands into her pants and began to feel around.

"Nothing, nevermind," Ginny said, growing quiet again. Draco went back to ignoring her and took off her pants and then his quickly, sliding off her underwear and finally his boxers. He adjusted himself over her and slid in, letting out a satisfied moan. It had been way to long and his desperation took over. He had been gentle the last two times with Ginny, but now his primitive instincts were taking over and he was thinking only of himself and getting rid of the sexual tension.

Five minutes later Draco moved off of Ginny, his body glistening with sweat. He gave a satisfied smirk and kissed Ginny's forehead. She had seemed to enjoy it more than the last two times, screaming for what could have been caused by pleasure that he had given her.

"Draco…" Ginny repeated in a small voice.

"What?" Draco asked, reaching down to grab his boxers and noticing blood covering much of the sheets. He looked up at Ginny who had placed her hands protectively on her stomach and was blinking continuously.

"St. Mungo's. Now.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

A fist met Draco's cheek suddenly, striking him so hard he momentarily blacked out, having to blink several times before he saw the angry face of Ron above him whose fists were still clenched, ready to attack again. Only his brother Bill was holding him back, and from the grim look on his face, he wasn't going to try hard to keep Ron from pouncing again.

"Killing him now isn't going to do anything for anyone, Ron. Wait until the healers say anything before we do anything rash," Bill said, pulling Ron away. But Draco didn't miss the word 'we' in his sentence.

As soon as Ginny demanded weakly to take her to St. Mungo's, he did. The healers calmly, but hurriedly, taking her to the maternity ward. He wasn't allowed to go into the room with her, upon Ginny's own orders. So he had sent an owl to the Burrow saying where Ginny was and sat in a chair outside her room with his head in his hands. Mrs. Weasley was the first to show up and went into Ginny's room without a glance towards Draco. Apparently Bill and Ron just got to St. Mungo's.

Draco rubbed his cheek where Ron's fist made contact and sat up, tapping his foot nervously and staring straight in front of him. He knew that this was his fault, his mother told him that once she entered her third trimester that it wasn't safe for the twins, or for Ginny, to have sex. But like usual, he was too concerned with his own personal needs. He didn't need to be in Ginny's hospital room with her to know that one, or both, of their babies lives were hanging on by a thread, if at all anymore.

The feeling of dread hadn't left his stomach in the past hour, and he kept looking towards her room, waiting for the bad news that he caused.

At this point, Mr. Weasley, Percy, Granger, and Potter had all arrived, standing off to the other side of Ginny's door and away from Draco. They were talking amongst themselves in low voices, one of them glancing over at him every few minutes.

Ginny's door finally opened and Mrs. Weasley came out quickly, going over to her husband and whispering something to him quickly. He nodded, glancing back over at Draco. Mrs. Weasley went over to Draco, her face set and her mouth in a tight line.

"They're going to put her in labor," she said, giving him a hard look.

Draco nodded.

"If all three of them make it out of alive, we'll all give you amnesty. If my daughter or any one of my grandchildren doesn't make it, you'll wish you were in Azkaban," Mrs. Weasley said in a low voice. Draco kept eye contact with her.

"I understand."

Mrs. Weasley nodded, "She wants you in there now."

Draco didn't have to be told twice, he got up quickly and went into the room, followed by Mrs. Weasley behind him.

Ginny was lying down on the hospital bed, propped up with her legs opened like how they had practiced with Madame Pomfrey. Suddenly though, he felt like all the birthing classes they had with her weren't going to help him at all. Ginny had a sheet of perspiration all over her and her hair was sticking to her head, and her face looked paler than usual. There were four healers with her who all had grim, set looks on their faces.

Draco quickly walked over to her left side and took her hand from the side of the bed that she was holding with a death grip. She transferred the grip immediately, staring straight in front of her and not looking at Draco.

He kissed the top of her head, wincing slightly at her grip.

"Okay, another push, Ginny," said one of the healers who was in between her legs.

The grip on Draco's hand tightened and Ginny let out a strangled groan, trying to push out one of the babies.

"Good, good," the healer said.

"Just get them out," Ginny whimpered wither her eyes brimmed with tears, gripping Draco's hand tightly again.

XX

The healer placed a blue bundle in Draco's left arm, and a pink one in his right. Both had a faint dusting of red hair and pink faces with a pointed nose like his, and brown eyes like their mother. Both of them were smaller than a loaf of bread, and his daughter—Aurora Molly had barely made it. The umbilical cord had begun to wrap around her neck, slowly choking her. The healers saved her just in time, though.

His son Fred Scorpius followed thirty-four seconds after they safely got Aurora out, this time they didn't risk waiting for him to be put in a life threatening situation.

Both of them nearly died because of him three hours before their birth though. His primal instincts caused the womb to get damaged, making it hard for them to not only come out safely, but to cause bleeding that nearly killed Ginny herself.

He sat down in the chair next to Ginny's bed carefully with his sleeping children. He looked up at Ginny who had turned on her side to look at him.

"They're beautiful…" he said quietly, not wanting to wake either of them up.

Ginny nodded, smiling softly. "I doubt you'll be thinking they're beautiful while you're changing the two of them until they're potty trained."

"You're not going to help me change them?"

Ginny smirked, "I decided that because you caused them to come a month early, put them at risk of dying, as well as me...you get to change them until they're both potty trained. And you get to wake up in the middle of the night along with them."

Draco sighed, but gave a weak smile, "I deserve that I suppose." Ginny nodded. "How are you feeling?" Draco asked.

"Sore, mainly, and scared."

"Me too," Draco replied, looking back down at the small bundles, tightly wrapped up in their blankets. He watched Aurora give a small little yawn and make a fist and he gave a bright smile.

Ginny watched him and smiled, she knew that they were going to do alright in the long run. They were dysfunctional, but Ginny Weasley-Malfoy was first and foremost a Weasley—and they excelled at the dysfunctional, unusual family.

XXXXXXX

**So I'm sorry there was such a delay, and if this story didn't work out they way you wanted it to. In truth, I had a major writer's block and it gave me a lot of discouragement with this story. I have started two new stories though, and I'm looking for someone to beta them. One is almost done, so there shouldn't be any writer's block. If you'd like to beta one of the two stories, or both, please send me a message on here. I'd greatly appreciate it! Hopefully the next story will be better.**


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